Conoce a Keaton Kiddo ~ Sam

In the Fall of 2023, Keaton’s Kiddo Kodiak was diagnosed with two rare and aggressive forms of cancer: Mixed Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) also known as ‘preleukemia.’

Their journey began one year earlier, in the Fall of 2022, when Kodiak was struck with a series of different seasonal illnesses. Kodiak’s mom Tonya shares: “In September, he got COVID, and then in November it was the flu, and then December RSV.”

Months before a clear diagnosis, Ellora was experiencing a loss of appetite, night sweats, and oversleeping. For Ellora, these symptoms were seen as normal for her or seen as natural changes in the growth of a 2-year-old. Eventually, she developed little spots on her hands and unexplained bruises on her body, which the doctors deemed Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), but after seeing an informative TikTok video on the symptoms Ellora was experiencing, her mom’s gut told her it was something more than a bleeding disorder.

Samerah, de 14 años, mejor conocida como Sam, ha estado luchando por un viaje bastante desafiante, pero con el amor y el apoyo de su familia, amigos y comunidad ha podido superar muchas cosas. A la edad muy temprana de 2 meses, a Sam le diagnosticaron neurofibromatosis. La neurofibromatosis no es un trastorno aislado. Causa varias afecciones diferentes y puede provocar el desarrollo de tumores en el cerebro, la columna y los nervios que envían señales entre el cerebro y la médula espinal.