30 DAYS/30 STORIES® 2021
John
September 19th
John’s Story
June 30, 2020: the day I became part of a club that no parent ever wants to join. That day I became the parent of a child with cancer.
John had discovered a lump on the left side of his neck several weeks earlier. After a visit to his pediatrician, he was sent for blood work and X-rays. When the pediatrician got the results, he called to tell me that he was referring John to the hematology/oncology clinic at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital.
When John was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, we were completely devastated. We could’ve never guessed that it would be cancer. Aside from that lump, he didn’t have any other symptoms. He was a very active teenager that wrestled for Liberty High School.
John’s first chemo treatment was mid-July. At the end of September, the CT scan and PET scan showed he was in remission.
In the months that followed, things had started to return to normal.
In March of this year, we were crushed once again when we found out that the monster known as cancer had returned. John is currently being treated with chemotherapy and will be getting an Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the near future.
PCFLV has been by our side from the beginning. They’ve helped our family out in so many ways. We’ve received grocery, gas, and hospital cafeteria gift cards as well as vouchers for E-Z Pass. They’ve also given John gifts for Christmas, his birthday, end of treatment, and given us gifts for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and amazing family dinners. We are eternally grateful for everything PCFLV has done and continues to do for our family!
Written by John’s mom, Lisa
Please consider donating in John’s honor to support PCFLV's mission.
Please also consider helping local kids with cancer by donating blood at Miller-Keystone Blood Center:
Photography by Matthew Cannon