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At a time when Colin Stern and his loved ones should've been celebrating his 16th birthday, he was in the hospital.
At a time when he should be learning how to drive and feeling comfortable in high school, they find themselves facing at least two years of spinal taps, radiation and more.
The sudden blow "has changed the course" of the entire family's lives forever, wrote Peggy Dressel Pappas, who organized a fundraiser for them.
Colin's mom "will have to substantially cut her hours at work to help her son battle this disease," Pappas noted.
Now a Saddle Brook High School sophomore, Colin was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was only 20 months old. After 3½ years of exhaustive treatment, he finally went into remission at 5.
Colin grew stronger, healthier, straight into adolescence. Then came the gut punch.
Roughly 10-20% of people with ALL will have a relapse after concluding treatment, oncologists say, but that ordinarily is within two to three years. Five years or more is infrequent. But a return after at least a decade, as Pappas noted, is "an extremely rare occurrence."
"No child or parent should ever have to endure a tragedy like this," she said, "but to go through it twice is absolutely unimaginable."
Pappas is hoping the fundraiser helps give Colin's family fewer things to worry about "so they can focus on nothing but the fight ahead."
Contributions of any amount will add up. Every little bit will help.
DONATE HERE: Support Colin In The Fight Of His Life!!!
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