Seth

My family and I wish to extend our appreciation to you.  Our son, Seth, was recently enrolled and we received our first check.  We are very grateful.  Seth is 11 years old and has an extremely rare cancer.  There have only been ten other children in history in the USA and UK with his specific disease.  It's called adult peripheral T-cell lymphoma.  It is very aggressive and difficult to treat.  Seth has been in treatment since November 2007.  Like many children with cancer, Seth has had several surgeries and began his cancer journey with six weeks in PICU.  He nearly didn't survive.  Fortunately, his tumor responded to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.  Soon he will undergo a bone marrow transplant with his 7 year old brother as donor. We live in rural Arizona and have had to travel for each and every one of Seth's treatments and related complications.  Initially, Seth was treated in Las Vegas which is nearly a three hour drive from home.  More recently his care has been transferred to Phoenix which is 240 miles from home.  We have driven nearly 10,000 miles since diagnosis.  Many trips have been emergent, causing us to drive across the desert in the middle of the night.  My husband has only been able to work sporadically since November.  I am on an unpaid leave of absence.  The money you send each month helps us pay for the gas needed to travel for Seth's treatments.  Up to this point any fundraiser we've had has been to raise and donate money for cancer charities.  We have never asked for help before and haven't accepted until now.  We are thankful that you are here for us.  I've attached a photo of Seth.  He's a bright and wonderful boy.  Thank you for helping our family.
Sincerely,
Jill- mom
Jeff- dad

Update:

Seth is currently 6 months post bone marrow transplant.  His donor was his 8 year old brother, Mason, also pictured.  Mason was very brave and is no doubt a hero. He said donation day was "the hardest day of my life".  Seth is in complete remission and is still recovering from his transplant, a process that takes 9-18 months.  He is doing very well and though unable to interact with people due to his compromised immune system, Seth has been able to keep up his school work at home and stay with his 6th grade class. After spending the summer and fall in Phoenix in isolation, we are happy to be home.  We still travel to Phoenix twice monthly, a 500 mile round trip from our home, for testing.  Thank you Children's Cancer Fund of America for helping us defray the great expense of caring for a very ill child.  We thank all the donors who make the Fund possible.