ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — According to the American Cancer Society, 10,470 children under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2022.
In April, Xander Minshew, 7, who lives in St. Johns County, was diagnosed with Burkitt Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
“He was just the normal 7-year-old kid playing and having fun and that night he complained of some stomach pain and couldn’t stand up straight," Xander's mom, Samantha Minshew said.
Xander was taken to Wolfson Children's Hospital where within days he would start his battle with cancer and his first round of chemotherapy.
“The staff over there is just top class they couldn’t have done in my personal opinion a better job a better job in treating our son on a persona level," Xander's dad, Kasey Minshew said. "He has definitely risen to the occasion and he's taken it with a level of grace that I would just never expected he's done really really well.”
Kasey says thankfully the care Xander needs is available down the road at Wolfson.
“There are some people that have to stay in, for example, the Ronald McDonald House when there getting treatments they have to septate from parts of their family to come here. We haven’t had to do that so he’s still being able to spend time with his brothers and come home after treatment," Kasey said.
“Families want the best care and I totally appreciate that and we’re lucky that we have a big enough center we can offer most resources," Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Health, Dr. Allison Bechtel said. "We’re going to follow the same protocols that a lot of other centers are so I think that gives them peace of mind that we’re not living in isolation. We’re also lucky that we have virtually every specialty here and if we don’t have it we have the resources in our network to go get that.”
Samantha says they're also thankful for local organizations like the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund and V for Victory who have been a huge help along the way.
"They have been phenomenal programs for us to help us finically. They help you with food, gas and other things you don’t really thing of initially. If people can donate to those programs or do anything for volunteering that type thing they just don’t understand how much it helps these families," Samantha said.
The plan right now is for Xander to finish up treatments in November.
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