#RallyKid Griffyn

Our sweet 2-year-old son Griffyn was a perfectly healthy, active little boy. He showed no signs of being sick. Back in march 2026, I found a hard knot behind his ear, as he is one of 6 boys and they are always playing rough, I assumed it was a goose egg from getting hit. He was acting completely fine. April we go to the beach for spring break. That’s when we found a few more hard lumps on the back of his head. The day before his 30-month well-child appointment, we noticed the lymph nodes in his neck had suddenly become swollen (he looked like he had the mumps) Like most parents would, we assumed it was just a virus. At his appointment, his pediatrician ordered blood work. The labs didn’t show much, so he started him on antibiotics just in case it was an infection. After a few days with no improvement, he ordered a chest X-ray. Everything changed that day. On April 23, 2026, our pediatrician called and told us to take our son to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta immediately because the X-ray showed a mass in his chest. The very next day, April 24, our lives were turned upside down when our 2-year-old was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL)—an aggressive and uncommon form of childhood leukemia that is especially rare in children as young as he is. Instead, we lived at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for 69 days. While hospitalized, he contracted a virus that caused him to go into septic shock. Doctors and nurses worked quickly to save his life, and because of the aggressive treatment required, he developed severe fluid overload. He gained nearly 10 pounds of fluid, leaving his tiny body swollen, uncomfortable, and in pain. As if that wasn’t enough, he also did not respond to his induction phase of chemotherapy as doctors had hoped. Because of that, his next phase of treatment had to be intensified. Thankfully, the stronger treatment appears to be working. Our once fast, fearless toddler—the little boy who ran everywhere he went—could no longer stand or walk without help. Nearly two months later, he is still fighting to regain the strength to walk again. Thankfully, we were able to get him home after a few days and today his counts were amazing and he was able to start the next phase (interim maintenance). For a child that has endured so much of what he has since April not only two years old, we could not be any prouder of how he is handling it. Even with his post ICU syndrome (he gets out for a rage in aggression) he is handling it all like a champ. We do have a long road ahead of us, our estimated end of treatment is 2029.

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