Ty

Our son Ty was diagnosed in May 2008 with stage 4 neuroblastoma. He was only 16 months old at the time and has since endured seven rounds of high dose chemotherapy, an Autogolous Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant, 27 rounds of radiation and had surgery to have his tumor removed. In addition, he has countless blood and platelet transfusions, countless MIBG,CT, and x-rays, as well numerous bone marrow aspirates and biopsies.

Ty is our little fighter and has never shown any signs of slowing down, even throughout this entire ordeal. He is so strong and continues to "power through it" with a smile on his face. We are blessed to have such a wonderful, loving, and active little boy and know he will beat this cancer!

Ty is now 5 years old and had been receiving his treatment through Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, California. However, due to the last part of his clinical study closing, we were referred to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to receive an antibody called 3F8, which has shown promising results. From March 2009 to March 2011, we flew coast to coast for his treatment. The 3F8 antibody is an extremely painful treatment that Ty had to endure once a month, provided he was HAMA negative. While in New York, Ty also endured an experimental treatment on his lower left leg, which still showed active disease in February 2010. The procedure involved a small incision made in his left leg and then injecting liquid nitrogen in the area, to freeze the disease.This process is commonly used in bone cancers but not on neuroblastoma. Ty was the third neuroblastoma child at Sloan Kettering to receive this procedure which was successful!

As of April 7, 2010, Ty is officially "no evidence of disease" and Ty finished the 3F8 protocol in March 2011. We made about 15 trips to New York over the course of two years.

Please keep Ty in your prayers so he can remain healthy, happy, and remain no evidence of disease!