8th grader grateful for support after beating childhood cancer twice: "Thank you"
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - For some children, the battle is one and done. For others, there are multiple battles and long-lasting side effects, and still, for others, the fight can be forever.
Danny Feltwell, like so many other 8th-grade boys, absolutely loves sports, especially baseball. According to his father, Dan, he's also a hard-working and an excellent student.
"He's brilliant in school," Danny's father said. "His grades are phenomenal."
And like Alexandra Scott and the many other children whose stories we've shared with you, Danny too, has had to battle cancer. The first time, he was just 27 months old.
His father shares the day that changed their lives at Nemours Children's Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.
"They told me my son had a tumor in the center of his chest from his bronchial tubes to his diaphragm," Danny's father said. "That started Danny's fight with childhood cancer."
And when he uses the word "fight," in every sense of the word, it was. Dan and Danny moved in with family, so Dan could dedicate his entire life and all of his time to taking care of Danny.
"Danny developed a toxic level of chemotherapy," Dan said. "It was a long recovery for Danny. It took him two and a half years of chemotherapy."
The horrible experience did offer a silver lining of sorts. The support and encouragement found through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.
"I've been going there since I was little. It really is a great foundation and organization that supports kids' families, like me," Danny said.
Unfortunately, we skipped a few vital parts of the story, which is ongoing to this day.
"Danny was playing baseball, being a normal child, and then Danny relapsed," Dan said. "He was 9 years old."
This time, Danny would need a bone marrow transplant.
"Danny received his gift of life from an unrelated donor," Dan said.
However, Danny's donor's immune system started attacking his own body. An excruciatingly painful turn of events that ravaged his young body.
"Ten days after Danny's transplant, he developed chronic Graft Versus Host Disease which is debilitating and it's horrible to watch a child go through that," Dan said.
You won't be surprised to learn that Dan and Danny beat cancer, again.
"He's finally getting his sea legs back. He's not all the way back but let him play, he needs to be a child," Dan said.
Then came the latest blow, which was only found as a result of genetic testing.
"Danny has constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD)," Dan said. "That glitch in Danny's DNA doesn't allow his body to recognize and fight off cancer cells but it also makes Danny more susceptible to developing cancers throughout his life."
During last year's telethon, we shared the Krishnan's story with you. Iyer and Parvathy Krishnan had two children, Yash and Ira. Both were found to have CMMRD. Tragically, Ira was just 4 years old when she died due to multiple rare diseases borne out of CMMRD, but because they learned Yash had it early on, he's now 15 and every bit your precocious teenager.
He's won his most recent battle with cancer, thanks to his new normal: endoscopies, colonoscopies, scans, scopes and bloodwork every three-to-six months to catch any cancer at the onset.
"You will get surveillance for life. You will never, never be told you're ever going to be cancer free. It will be yes you are going to be cancer free until we find that next cancer," Parvathy Krishnan said.
For both Danny and Yash, the fight continues but today both are just like any other young teens you know. Full of life and so appreciative of the time they've spent with the Alex Scott Lemonade Stand Foundation.
"The work they do is sincere and it will always go back to helping kids and changing lives," Yash said
"Thank you for supporting Alex's Lemonade Stand. I couldn't be more grateful for what you do and for what other people do, so thank you," Danny said.
