Caden’s Story

In fall 2024, Caden had recently begun daycare and was beginning to struggle with his health. After some time, his parents realized they were dealing with something more than daycare germs. In November, Caden was diagnosed with Leukemia. This was unfortunately not the first cancer journey their family had walked. A few years prior, in the same week Caden was born (6 weeks early), his mom Joy was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Their family felt discouraged to find themselves facing yet another cancer diagnosis. Caden soon launched into a series of chemotherapies.

Currently, Caden is doing really well! He has moved into maintenance treatment which means he takes chemo every day at home and goes in occasionally for lumbar punctures and infusions. During this part of treatment life begins to feels a little more normal but the road ahead still feels very long. Caden is set to finish treatment in February 2027, but until then he is at risk for getting sick because the chemo he is taking lowers his immunity.

He has been able to start partial days at daycare again and he is loving the opportunity to play with other children and see family more often. He has a lot of energy and loves playing imaginative games. He has a big personality and loves meeting people and making friends. Although visiting clinic is harder now for him than it ever has been, Caden continues to show up with resiliency and bravery saying “I can do hard things.” Caden recently told his parents “Jesus helps me be strong.” These two phrases are exactly what inspired the design on his shirt as his family has clung to Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ.” during this challenging season.

Caden’s parents shared the following:

“We are so incredibly thankful for the support of family and friends during this journey. Although the early days of weekly infusions have calmed to the slow walk through maintenance, we are still in the thick of this. As we return bit by bit to “normal life” we are thankful that God is helping us through the hard things in this part of our story. We can do all things (even hard things) through Him who gives us strength.