“Joshua was a very happy little boy who has always had a love for Law Enforcement,  John Deere, and gardening.   In November 2020 we first noticed something was off.  He started complaining of back pain and was unable to control his bladder.  For the next 7 months we fought with his family doctor. We were told everything was fine.   May 22, 2021  he was so bad that he was unable to stand without being in excruciating pain.  I decided to take him to the local ER where they discovered he had 9 compression fractures.  We were told to follow up with a pediatric specialist.   After making the appt and seeing the specialist, he was admitted into the hospital. On May 27, 2021 the doctor sat me down to tell me that my little boy has cancer.

Things moved quickly for the next few weeks.  On June 1 he had surgery for a port placement,  June 7 he started his first round of chemo.  After a grueling 3 weeks in the hospital he was able to go
back home with his siblings.    Weekly appts to Pittsburgh to follow and medicine at home.  Unfortunately in June he would be hit with Covid and hospitalized for it.  Well it didn’t seem to stop him and was able to fight it off without any hard complications.   After a short 5 days he went home.  For the next 2 months we tried being a normal family again.   Then in August he became sick again with pancreatitis,  covid, pneumonia  all which caused his body to suffer even more.  He never let it stop him.    In December he underwent a BMT which required a long hospital stay.  Not long after the Transplant his body started shutting down, he was sent to the PICU,  we were told that we didn’t have much time with our little boy.  He defeated all odds  again and after  a very long 5 weeks he was finally well enough to move back to the oncology floor.   He remained in the hospital for the next several months (all the while missing his siblings).  In May 2022 he was finally well enough to return home.  We make weekly trips to Pittsburgh for treatment with only a few minor short hospital stays for now.”