Tyler Ruppelius

Welcome to Tyler's CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Tyler's cancer journey began shortly after Christmas this year when he came to us with a lump on the right side of his neck.  He was just getting over a cold so we were not overly concerned, but thought it was something we should have checked out.  The pediatrician placed him on antibiotics and wanted to see him in a week to see if the swelling was decreasing.  Five days later the lump was not going down in size and the pediatrician sent Tyler for an ultrasound of this neck and then referred him to an ENT at Children's Specialty Center.  The very next day he had his ENT appointment.  The ENT ordered a CT of the neck.  The CT showed multiple enlarged  lymph nodes on both sides of the neck and down into the top of the chest.  The ENT then told us that this could be lymphoma or a possible fungal infection. A biopsy confirmed that he has Hodgkin's Lymphoma and his PET scan showed he is stage 2.

Tyler was able to play two more hockey games before starting treatments.  One of those games was Saturday January 20th, Hockey Day Minnesota and also Becker-Big Lake Eagles Day.  It was a great day of hockey where we watched both our boys play two great games.  We all definitely felt the love and support of our hockey family and the whole association. It was a great day!

Monday, Jan. 22nd, Ty had his central line placed. He was originally scheduled to start his chemotherapy on Tuesday, but we received a call from Children's Oncology Clinic to let us know of an opportunity that Ty may be interested in.  Someone had donated tickets to the MN Wild fundraiser Wild About Children for Tuesday night.  They would then move his first chemo day to Wednesday instead. Ty had the opportunity to meet all the MN Wild players, get pictures and autographs, and was served dinner by the players.  It was a super fun night and a great distraction from everything that has been happening.

Words can't express how grateful we are for everyone's love and support!  We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, thank you so much! 

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