Ethan Koch

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We've created it to keep friends and family updated about our son, Ethan. Get started by reading the introduction to our website, My Story.

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Ethan was an active, happy teenager and just celebrated his 14th birthday on September 29th.  A week or so before his birthday, he started complaining about headaches that only seemed to occur in the evenings and while exercising.  He also began to run low-grade fevers every now and then in the evening -- he would wake in the morning and feel just fine.  We allowed Ethan to be the judge of his care, and on October 3rd he said it was time to see his doctor.  She determined that he had a double ear infection and put Ethan on amoxicillin.  The fevers ceased, but the headaches continued to occur in the evenings and whenever he exercised.  The next Monday, Oct 10th, we called the doctor to request a blood test thinking that he may have mono.  The very next day, October 11, 2011 we received a phone call from the pediatrician to come to her office as soon as possible with Ethan.  Chris and I knew on the ride to the doctor's office that Ethan had cancer -- it had been in the back of our minds.  Those fears were confirmed when the pediatrician told us that Ethan had leukemia.  She sent us on to St. Louis Children's Hospital where he was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  Ethan is a fighter -- he was strong and felt relatively healthy going into this journey.  We are now placing our faith in God  -- that He will heal Ethan, give his doctors the knowledge and expertise to help fight Ethan's disease, and to give our family strength and understanding throughout this very difficult time.