Maddox’s Story

In early 2025, Maddox was having really high fever spikes with no other symptoms. In the first few days of April, he developed a red freckly rash and was looking quite pale. On April 4th Maddox woke up around 12:30am inconsolable and coughing. By Monday April 7th all he wanted to do was sleep. His parents became really concerned when he didn’t even have interest in nursing. They took him to his pediatrician who sent them straight to the ER at Cincinnati Children’s for bloodwork. A team of doctors came in and said they suspected Maddox had Leukemia. Maddox was immediately admitted inpatient to begin treatment and received an official diagnosis of B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He was inpatient for the next 31 days for the Induction phase. On May 8th he came home but went extremely toxic from the medication he was being given for the Consolidation phase. He also had rhinovirus/enterovirus which, in conjunction, left him extremely ill and put him back in the hospital for a week and a half. Since Maddox had such an adverse reaction to the second block of treatment, it was a bit of a loss. They ended up giving him Blincyto for 28 days to try to salvage what they could of that treatment block.

While in the hospital for the initial Induction phase, Maddox lost his ability to walk. He has worked really hard over the past six months to gain the ability to walk back and is walking and more active now! He is currently in the Delayed Intensification block of treatment which has been the most difficult on him next to Induction. Maddox has two planned inpatient stays this month that are four days each where he will receive new chemo treatments he has not had yet. His family and doctors are hopeful that he will be able to move into the Maintenance phase in February 2026 where he will remain until the middle of July. Throughout this entire traumatic journey Maddox has been so tough and brave. He loves watching school buses, always pointing them out when he sees them! This is where the inspiration for his shirt design came from - it serves as a powerful reminder to each of us that no matter who we are we can all climb on the bus and be “in this together”!