Otto’s Story

Site created on July 28, 2019

Welcome to our 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.


Otto hadn't been feeling good on and off for a couple of months. On July 24,  we did some blood work in Blue Earth and before we could leave town they called and said Otto needed to come back immediately. We went back and they said his blood work came back dangerously low indicating some issues with his blood and needed to be admitted to Children's MN in Minneapolis to meet with a hematologist. We got to Children's MN and they confirmed that he does have leukemia. They did some more blood tests and determined that he has ALL (acute lymphocytic leukemia) B-cell. This is the best of the worst situation. The doctor told us they have an over 90% successful cure rate with this form. He will have chemo treatments in out-patient one or two times a week. He will continue that for about 6 months then he will move to once a month. For a total of 3 years. The great news is if all goes as planned he should be in remission in a month. We are thankful that he will be able to have the less aggressive form of treatment. We are holding onto faith that Otto will get better soon and with minimal side effects and issues. God is in control and he will get us through this. At this time there isn't a lot anyone can do but pray so we ask for a lot of prayers. We all have a long road ahead of us. Thank you in advance for all the words of encouragement and the prayers. God's Got This!!

Newest Update

Journal entry by Ashlynn Cegelske

Long over due update. Since May Otto has been having some unexplained headaches and fevers which has given us quiet a few ER visits. His protocol is an automatic ER visit if he has a fever of 101.5 or more, because of his port. Because of those fevers (mainly) and headaches his primary oncologist decided to leave his port in at his last intrathecal appointment and instead do a bone marrow biopsy again to be sure he wasn't relapsing at the end here. The biopsy came back CLEAR! He still remains cancer free!! 🙌 Otto did his last intrathecal chemo and lumbar puncture on August 13th (see picture). He now just has to finish his oral (pills) chemo until Oct 2nd then he is officially DONE with chemotherapy!!! Oct 8th we will return for his first post treatment appointment those will continue every 2 months for a year, every 6 months for the next year, then every year for ten years after. When we go for his appointment on Oct 8th they will also remove his port. We are so proud of him and SOOOO happy for this journey to becoming to a close. He's the bravest and most optimistic 6 year old we know. We are so proud of how well he handled this hurdle he was thrown. We strongly with out a doubt believe that without God's grace and promises this journey would've never been handled with the optimism it was. We also know we wouldn't of been able to handle this journey without the support from ALL of our family and friends. We feel so humbled by all of your support big or little trust us it all meant the world to us. We are so thankful and blessed you are all in our lives. God bless all of you! 🧡💛

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