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Dyllen’s Story

Site created on April 10, 2018

Welcome to our little cowboy's journey!!

Dyllen, had been having stomach issues since January. After numerous times taking him into the Dr. I finally asked for a consult with a GI Specialist. His older brother see's one at Avera McKennan so right off the bat that is who we wanted to see. They saw him right away, which is hard to do. And was scheduled for an Endoscopy a few day's later. The found that he has a virus attacking his tummy and living off the acid. His biopsy was sent to the Mayo and came back as H Pylori. 14 Day course of antibiotics he should hopefully be better. Not so much. We had a scheduled vacation to San Diego, CA during the last 7 days of the antibiotic and things seemed to be getting worse, NOT better! Easter weekend we flew home. Monday, April 2nd, he had to stay home from school as he was throwing up again, which was nothing new. That night he screamed in pain all night long. So, that next morning, Tuesday April 3rd I took him to the ER in Marshall, MN. He was severely dehydrated. They took X-rays and notices something wasn't quite right. So, they did a CT Scan and saw he had a bowel obstruction and intussusception (tunneling) of the large intestines and the colon. We were ambulanced to Avera McKennan. They tried different ways to release the bowel obstruction and intusesspetion but none of them worked. Surgery was scheduled for that next morning. Wednesday, April 4th 2018, our lives forever changed. Our brave cowboy went into surgery hoping it would make him better. About 30 min into surgery, the attendant comes to get us and brings us into a room and the surgeon was in right away. Thinking this was quick!! Unfortunately, not. He was still open on the operating table and the Dr. was telling us what they found. Cancer. A baseball size tumor, in our 9 year olds colon/large intestines. They had to remove 11 inches of his colon along with the tumor. Burkett's Lymphoma a form on Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Cancer. Forever changed our lives. Our little Cowboy's life. April 4th, will always be etched into our minds and hearts. So, we begin the fight. We fight. Dyllen Fights. Cancer does not have a say in our little Cowboy's life! We are Dyllen Strong!! #dyllenstrong

Newest Update

Journal entry by Brittany Christensen — Feb 14, 2019

Today, is Valentine's Day!! The day of love. Shouldn't we love who we love everyday of the year, not just because a day designed to "love" just this one day?! Today came, and I told Dyllen before he left for school, that I love him today and everyday for the rest of my life! Of course he is 10 now and yeah yeah love you too mom..

Today, is just a little different, than just Valentine's day.. you see, Dyllen is 5 Month's Cancer-Free today!! 5 months, 153 days, 3674 hours, 220,440 mins longer to love him in this world!! So many things are taken for granted. Like saying I love you. It becomes habit to anyone. I try to make every "I love you" count Because saying "I love you" to my medically fragile children means so much more. Life is full of love and appreciation, don't ever take it for granted because tomorrow you may not hear or get to say "I love you" again! So, here is to Valentine's Day but more importantly loving Dyllen 5 months longer!!

We are #dyllenstrong

-*- I have loved you with an Everlasting love Jeremiah 31:3 -*-

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