Benny’s Story

Site created on April 30, 2018

As most people know, our son has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.  It started with a rash that we noticed on April 25th. We called the doctor and brought him in for an appointment the next day. They sent us to get his blood work done and after the results came in, we were told to go to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington for admittance. Upon admission, his white blood cell count was 644K and the normal is 5-15K. His platelet levels were also extremely low.  Since that time, his white blood cell count has dropped significantly and his platelet levels and red blood cell levels have started to increase. His chemotherapy treatments will start tommorrow.  With all of this, we have at least 3.5 years of treatment to go. To do what is best for our son, we feel that we need to move back to Colorado so that he can get treatment at Denver Children's Hospital, which is supposed to be the best in the country.  As such, we are asking for help in raising money to help with our unexpected move back to Colorado and unknown expenses that we could face.  Benny will be in the hospital for 1-4 weeks here in Spokane, then he will be on an out patient basis until around May 29th. Benny will have appointments in Spokane twice a week for the next month or so.  Of course, all this depends on his progress and how he does with the chemo. Anything helps and is much appreciated.  Please share our story.

Newest Update

May 2, 2018

Journal entry by Tracey Zastrow —

An update on our little man... so when he was admitted on 4-26 his WBC was 644k, as of this morning he is at 26k which has significantly dropped. The doctors and nurses here were scratching there heads upon his arrival as to how he was not showing any signs of being sick. He also only had about 50% of his red blood cells when we walked into the hospital. But since then he's had a few blood transfusions and he still has several to go. His levels are starting to get back to normal for the most part. He started his first chemo treatment 5-1-18. He's doing great though. He has been his jolly old self since we got here so that is a very huge plus for us. His tests for his spinal tap came back all negative, no leukemia cells in any of the fluid!!! That is a huge plus!!!!  Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for us and your donations to help us we really appreciate your support!!! I will keep you updated on his progress.
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