Valerie Fund Helps Child Cancer Patients In New Jersey, Some Barely Able To Speak
MORRISTOWN, NJ (WCBS 880) - When children are diagnosed with cancer, the Valerie Fund is there to help them.
It was only a year ago when now 10-year-old Elias woke up with severe pain in his hand and elbow.
After many tests, doctors suspected leukemia, but the pain eventually went away and the swelling went down.
Three months later, his mom Senna says it all came back again. A biopsy was done on his left hand.
"[It] came back inconclusive and they did the right elbow. It came back confirmed that he did, in fact, have a B-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma," she told WCBS 880 reporter Kelly Waldron.
B-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma is a very rare cancer.
Chemotherapy treatments began a week later at the Valerie Fund Children's Center in Morristown, which Senna describes as a gift.
"We realize, you know, how well they take care of us here. Not only our children, but us also as parents," she says.
Elias says he's actually going to miss it when he has to stop coming for treatments.
"They just, amaze me how they can help me better and better from this lymphoma," he says.
Elias is currently undergoing another round of treatments and scans. So far, he's not showing any symptoms.
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Amanda was a full-time student in college and noticed changes in her 20-month-old son Jake.
After numerous rounds of antibiotics and a rash on his skin, doctors finally ordered blood work.
When she received the results, Amanda was told to get him to the hospital where he arrived with a fever of 104 degrees.
"Dr. Gregory came in. He was the hematologist and I didn't know what that was. He said, 'We go along with oncology' and they thought that he had leukemia," she says.
Jake was admitted while Amanda was still trying to comprehend the diagnosis.
"I didn't remember anything else except that it was an 80 to 85 percent cure rate," she says.
Jake is still undergoing treatment at the Valerie Fund Children's Center which Amanda says has been a godsend.
"To be a part of a group that can help give these kids the chance for their life, a chance to even enjoy it," she says.
Amanda says that's something you can't put a price on.
Join WCBS 880 this Saturday, June 11 at Verona Park in Verona, New Jersey for the Valerie Fund Walk & JAG Physical Therapy 5K Run. The run begins at 8:30 a.m. and the walk at 10 a.m. To register to walk/run or donate, click HERE.
