May 18, 2020, and October 14, 2022, are two days I will never forget in my family’s personal fight against cancer!

On May 18th my 1½ year old son, Liam, went to his pediatrician for what we thought was an infected bug bite and associated rash – thankfully, our pediatrician knew right away it was something more and immediately sent us to the hospital. After several blood tests and excruciating hours of waiting, Liam was admitted to Dallas Children’s Health to begin treatment for B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. 

The next two and half years brought many challenges, emotions and physical changes – none of which a family is ever prepared for – but throughout it all Liam was a fighter!  He made treatments, procedures, tests and hospital stays seem easy.  He approached each and every day with an incredible attitude and resilience.  Liam showed up for every visit in superhero attire, because to us he was nothing less than a superhero.  He always had a smile on his face, and he brought joy and fun to those he called his “best friends”, his nurses & doctors.

It was hard to leave the security of Liam’s medical friends when we relocated to New York midway through his treatments, but he immediately made new friends at New York Presbyterian’s Weill Cornell hospital who did an amazing job of continuing his care.

On October 14, 2022, Liam stood (on a chair) surrounded by myself, my wife, our daughter, and his extended family of nurses and doctors, and “rang the bell” signaling the end of his treatments.  It was an amazing sound to hear that ding…ding…ding!

 

Although I’ve never boxed before, when presented with the opportunity to participate in Haymakers for Hope I immediately signed up.  If my fighting, even just a small percentage as hard as Liam did during his battle, will help raise money and awareness for a cause like bringing down cancer, you couldn’t keep me out of the ring!  My goal is to continue the trend of a ringing bell signaling victory and make my superhero as proud of me as I was of him on that most memorable day in October.