Hope, Strength, and Healing for families coping with a child cancer diagnosis

Meet Keaton Kiddo ~ Angel

Sweet Angel, a sixteen-year-old kiddo, has been positive and strong throughout his journey. Angel loves to play soccer, socialize with his friends and be proactive about his education. On June 8, 2021, Angel was unfortunately diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, which is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow with excess immature white blood cells.

Angel has been strong and mighty, throughout his journey. His family has been a huge support to him and has been there every step of the way. Seeing Mom, his primary caregiver, have so much resiliency has been incredible. Upon connecting with a Keaton’s Family Navigator, Angel’s Mom shared that they did not have reliable transportation, and was concerned about the reliability of their vehicle. Since the family has a five-hour round trip commute for his treatment, we were eager to alleviate this stressor for the family. Fortunately, due to a generous Les Schwab donation along with an in-kind donor Keaton’s was able to cover the costs of the services for the car repair.

When meeting with Angel’s family to present them the gift certificate for the car repair Angel’s Mom shared that due to his treatment schedule Angel had to drop out of his summer classes. To help prevent him from falling behind, Keaton’s offered tutoring support through our new partner, the Virtual Sprout Education Program.

Along with providing travel solutions and education support, the Keaton’s Family Navigators team recently met with Angel’s family to hand-deliver their Hope Chest (family care package) and offer a joy-filled experience. With all of the support Keaton’s has given to Angel and his family, they have shared how thankful they are for a program like Keaton’s.

Meet Keaton’s Kiddo – Kodiak

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.”

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Meet Keaton’s Kiddo – Ellora

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.

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Meet Keaton’s Kiddo – Samerah

14-year-old Samerah, best known as Sam has been battling quite the challenging journey, but with the love and support of her family, friends, and community she has been able to overcome so much. At the very young age of 2 months old, Sam was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis. Neurofibromatosis is not an isolated disorder. It causes several different conditions and can lead to the development of tumors on the brain, spine, and the nerves that send signals between the brain and spinal cord.

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