This is Alex…..

He is 3 years old…..

On Mother’s Day of 2020 we got the heartbreaking diagnosis of High Risk Stage 3 Neuroblastoma for our 3 year old baby boy named Alex. “Your child has cancer.” Those four little words are the most devastating words a parent can hear. Everything in our world came crashing down… The Tumor was 17cmx13cm and was wrapped around major attires. We thought fighting cancer was going to be the hardest but what we were not prepared for is everything else that you must face along his journey. After mourning the diagnosis and a week after Alex’s first round of chemo he went into complete liver failure and had 3 litters of internal bleeding. The swelling and pressure of the tumor cut off the artery that feeds the liver as well as surrounding his lungs with fluid to the point of near collapse. We put Alex on life support and rushed against the clock to try and save him. Thankfully with prayer and with the most amazing doctors Alex fought for his life for two weeks to get healthy enough to leave the ICU and move onto round two. We spent 48 long days in the hospital after being diagnosed. And due to the Pandemic we had no choice but to fight this battle with just my husband and I being the only ones allowed at Alex’s side despite having a newborn at home who was only born a week prior to Alex’s Diagnosis.

Alex then fought through 
-6 rounds of aggressive chemo
-15 hour Tumor removal surgery of his 17cmx13cm mass that was wrapped around major attires
-Learning to walk again after his surgery 
– 2 Stem Cell Harvest 

After so many delays and complications Alex finally started his Bone Marrow Transplant on November 26th. Just 2 days later Alex would be put on life support again for septic shock and VOD (a rare serious complication that causes the liver to swell and puts pressure on the lungs, making it difficult to breath.) watching your baby put on life support once is enough but twice in one year broke us. The first week was frightening once again not knowing if we could fix the damage done but two weeks of fighting for his life and for the quick minds of our whole team Alex began to recover. After two weeks on a ventilator Alex became so strong (and had such a high tolerance for sedation medication) that we extubated himself balloon and all. One amazing thing about our warrior is his strength. Watching your child suffer the horrors of treatment in order to have a chance at life is something no parent should ever have to experience. But on the other side of that watching your child become stronger and wiser because of the mountains the must climb and the battles they fight against is inspiring. It inspires you to be better for them. And to be strong for them. And to find the simple joys in every day. 

Since then Alex has fought through : 

– 14 rounds of radiation where he had to be sedated for 14 days in a row in a city 5 hours away from home
– Blood Infection and Cholangitis
– And he is on round 2 of 5 of his ani-body Treatment in the picu 

We have had a rough journey full of the lowest lows and the highest highs. Alex didn’t get his nickname of “CurveBall” for no reason. But we still consider ourselves lucky because we have our warrior, and he is still fighting. We do dearly miss our life before Cancer, and we miss our lil Alex who was naively happy and unscarred and living a normal life. We try to make sure to try and remember how far we have come and not just how much further we have to go. Because Alex is giving this fight his all and we couldn’t be prouder of our lil warrior!

Please pray for Alex and his family as he fights!

Follow Alex’s journey on Facebook here: https: Facebook.com/Alexstrong2020

Follow Alex’s journey on Instagram here:  Instagram.com/Alexstrong2020

Cards can be sent to Alex at this address:  135 Westpoint Dr, Greensburg, Pennsylvania 15601

Much Love ~ LaLa

#addisjourney #wednesdaywarrior #alexstrong #childhoodcancer #morethan4