A Family’s Courageous Journey: Jack’s Story

Jack’s story is told by his father who shares the role of primary caretaker of Jack and his

sister, Emma, with their mother. Jack’s father shared their story as part of the
submission for their applcaition to ACCBF requesting financial support.
Jack's story is a powerful testament to resilience and the strength of family bonds in the
face of unimaginable challenges. It chronicles the emotional and physical battles of a
young boy who faced Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) twice, highlighting the unwavering
support of his family. You will be inspired by Jack's courage, the family's determination,
and the hope that carried them through their most daunting days. This heartfelt journey
underscores the importance of ongoing support from family, outstanding children’s
hospitals and organizations such as ACCBF and the incredible impact they can have on
families when they need it most.

In September of 2021, our 7-year-old son Jack was easily getting tired at sports practice
and games and had a hard time catching his breath while running. Early on, we sought
tests to rule out strep, COVID-19, allergies, and asthma – all tests came back negative.
Then, when Jack’s symptoms worsened—achy joints, easy bruising, was pale/cold, and
difficulty keeping up his energy doing regular tasks (including trick-or-treating)—we
called the doctor again on November 1st and asked for blood work. That night, we
received the most unexpected news imaginable: Jack had leukemia. Later that week, it
was confirmed that Jack had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), and on November 6th,
2021, he began chemotherapy. After a few weeks at our local hospital in New York, we
knew it was time to transfer Jack to Boston Children’s Hospital where he could get the
best care possible for his battle with cancer. This decision was not going to be easy on
our family, but getting the best care possible for Jack to beat this was our number one
priority.

Jack spent 7 months inpatient while he received treatment at Boston Children’s Hospital
in 2021-2022. That year, he spent Thanksgiving, his 8th birthday, Christmas, and
several additional holidays in his hospital room and missed most of 2nd grade.
This was a tough year for the entire family, including Jack’s sister (now 13-year-old)
Emma. We spent the majority of the year split up in two different states so Emma could
stay home with one parent at a time and go to school and dance while Jack received
treatment in Massachusetts. After 5 rounds of chemo and 200 days inpatient, Jack
finished treatment and was discharged on May 20, 2022. Little did we know, his
leukemia journey was far from over.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time as a family for the next year and thought we could put
his cancer-fighting days behind us. We watched Jack get right back into sports, we
traveled, he went back to school for third grade, and most importantly, we spent time as
a family. As we approached the summer of 2023, one year after finishing treatment,
Jack started to get strep regularly and could not fight it off with multiple rounds of antibiotics.

In July 2023, we saw doctors in an attempt to get rid of what we thought was strep. We
ended up back at the The Jimmy Fund Clinic (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston),
who also thought he was fighting off a very bad infection. After returning in August for a
follow-up, Jack’s labs started to show his cells were not behaving as they should, and
his doctors ordered a bone marrow biopsy. On September 1, 2023, we learned Jack
had relapsed; the cancer was back.
Our world shattered again. Jack was readmitted to Boston Children’s Hospital on
September 11, 2023, to start inpatient treatment again. This time, Jack started with two
rounds of very intensive chemotherapy. He was admitted to the transplant floor on
December 4, 2023 (his 10th birthday), for transplant conditioning, and on December
11th, Jack received a stem cell transplant. Our family once again spent many months
split up, with the parents switching places 2-3 times per week, so the other parent could
be home with Emma and try to keep life going for her—consistency with school and
dance was very important.
Jack was once again discharged from Boston Children’s Hospital on January 2, 2024.
We moved into an apartment near the hospital since we were going to The Jimmy Fund
Clinic (Dana-Farber) multiple times per week and to stay close to the emergency room
in case we needed it. Jack ended up getting an infection a few weeks after discharge,
and we spent six more days at Boston Children’s Hospital in mid-January. At the end of
January, Jack was cleared to come back home. Jack was under strict isolation protocol
post-transplant for many months, so unfortunately, he was not able to go to school this
past year for fourth grade. He was not allowed to go inside public places except the The
Jimmy Fund Clinic or permitted to go to friends’ houses for playdates, and nobody could

come into our house. This, of course, was a new challenge of juggling schedules and
swapping days working at our offices so that one of us was able to be home in order to
keep Jack isolated and safe.