Donate to Dylan - My Grandson

Dylan at 5 yrs old

UPDATE - January 1, 2021 - My 12-year old grandson Dylan has survived a fatal form of Leukemia (ALL) he got when he was an infant. After months and months of early hospitalization and intense treatments including chemo, radiation, and a rare cord blood transplant, he is now free from the Leukemia itself (a miracle in my book) and we are hopeful for an improving future although there are many challenges ahead for us. His continued care for associated physical, mental, and social related issues demands much added expense for his parents (my son Erik & daughter-in-law Michelle), and because they have no insurance (it got used up a long time ago) they have to pay "out-of-pocket" for all expenses including continued doctor visits for cancer checkups and neurologists for his brain as well as other medical needs because of the damage the early treatment (radiation, chemo) did to the rest of his body. We love him very much and one of the big reasons I do this blog is to help my grandson through small donations from generous people like you who may also have gone through severe medical issues in your life or know a family member who may now be dealing with health issues or has died from Leukemia. I think we all know people like that who have been through difficult times.

Dylan today

Although Dylan may "look" fairly normal at this point, he is far from that. Dylan has physical & severe mental developmental issues, including very poor eyesight, due to the intense treatment (chemo & radiation) he received for the Leukemia when he was an infant through age 1, but it took a while to see if Dylan would develop normally or not. We have known for awhile that he does not operate and behave normally including not being able to communicate much past a 3 year old level and not able to say many words, as well as being visually impaired with poor vision. Dylan's brain & thought functions are also impaired to the point where it is difficult for him to learn to discern right from wrong as he will behave in erratic ways sometimes which are far from normal and can be disturbing to his surroundings and other people who do not understand. It's almost like he has autism in some ways because much of the time he lives in his own world. What Dylan has is now commonly referred to as "chemo brain" and it continues to be a source of dysfunction in a variety of ways as I mentioned.

As Dylan continues to grow he also continues to show us that he is learning new things and developing but at the same time he still displays new health issues along with the ones he already has. The latest thing going on is that Dylan is having brain seizures that cause him to go into a trance like state where he nearly passes out and cannot function for up to a minute at a time. This was happening multiple times a day. Basically the neurons in his brain go haywire without warning and he has a seizure which is very scary to go through for him and equally scary to watch him go through it. Fortunately a treatment, at least for the time being, is having been able to get Dylan some specialized medication that helps control these seizures from happening, but there is a big cost to get that necessary product of which his parents cannot afford since they do not have insurance they can afford that will cover that. But it is such a blessing for him and his family (parents, etc) to not go through these terrible seizures because of what this medicine is doing for him.

The bottom line is that Dylan needs and is undergoing long term professional developmental care and therapy which is very expensive and is beyond our family's ability to pay for. Some days Dylan's long term needs seem insurmountable but regardless of that, we love him and need to help care for him with the hope he can improve somewhat over time. Something I did not mention yet is that through a dental checkup a few years ago, we learned that Dylan has no teeth coming in at all since he began losing his baby which happened much later than a healthy child, and he is now 12 years old. He has no teeth because of all the chemo treatment he previously received that killed off many of his healthy cells during his early childhood physical development. Dylan will not be able to have anything done about this teeth issue until he is much older past teenage years when possible orthodontia work can actually be done which will be expensive. He'll have no teeth to chew for now with which is hard to believe, but true. Yikes, the issues this young boy has to deal with is huge...but yet he smiles and laughs and is a fun kid and shows love to people (when he is in the mood:)...you never know when that will be because he is generally unpredictable when it comes to that kind of response and it can be frustrating for his Mom & Dad as every parent wants their child to love them and be "normal.".

I am asking anyone who appreciates my blog reviews (which I do at my own expense and time) if you would consider donating a small amount towards Dylan's expenses? It would mean so much to me and my family, and we are hopeful that one day we will see some much needed physical, mental, & interactive social improvements, although it is still very challenging right now as I have talked about. We have seen some small improvements over the years with the therapy he has received that we are able to afford along with his special needs school that he is in. But Dylan still has a very long way to go physically, mentally and socially assuming his Leukemia never comes back which are hopeful that it won't. We are praying that a miracle will occur and that we will see some dramatic improvements with Dylan over time because he is loved by many.

All proceeds will go directly to Dylan's continued care.
No donation is too small

CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK
TO SEE A SHORT VIDEO OF MY GRANDSON
*This video was done shortly after Dylan was back to feeling somewhat OK when he was quite young
and out of danger from his Leukemia

Thank you in advance for your generosity!