Currently being treated for Stage 4 Neuroblastoma

Meet Beckham, one of our ambassadors for the month of September. He is a goofy 8 year old currently being treated for Stage 4 Neuroblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City.  Beckham was diagnosed on September 11, 2013 at the age of 3. A few weeks prior to his diagnosis, Beckham was playing with his sister and they banged their heads together. This resulted in Beckham’s black eyes.  His mom remembers looking at pictures from that time and seeing his eyes starting to darken.

“I called the doctor and they said to watch it and call if things worsened. They went down and then started to darken. I ended up taking him in to his pediatrician and they drew labs. Later that day I got a call that Beckham’s labs were abnormal and that we had an appointment with oncology up at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City,” his mom recalls.

At first, doctors didn’t think Beckham had cancer, they went through many diagnoses, everything from mono to anemia. The doctors were not convinced and decided to do a bone marrow biopsy which revealed that Beckham had tumors throughout his body and bone marrow.

Treatment was aggressive and as a result Beckham started chemotherapy. The doctors performed a resection of the main tumor and radiation to his skull in Utah which resulted in soft tissue tumors and bone marrow clearing well but the tumors in his bones had hardly changed. Beckham’s mom recalls going onto a Facebook group for Neuroblastoma and was urged to take him for a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering. February 2014 was the first trip to NYC where Beckham received MIBG therapy, NK cell therapy, radiation, 3f8 antibioties, cryotherapy surgery, numerous rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to remove lymph nodes in his upper right underarm and chest.

Beckham has had two central lines and is on his third port. “He has endured four relapses, the most recent being March of 2018 and his doctors say he is a miracle boy.”

Fortunately, his latest scans show no evidence of disease. He is currently in treatment for an alk mutation which was found in his past two surgeries.  Beckham has a lot of personality and loves to make people laugh – we are looking forward to many laughs with Beckham!

Beckham is one strong little boy and an example of true perseverance. Beckham expresses to his mom that he is never giving up and his cancer is going down!

*Special thanks to our Candlelighters NYC Affiliate and Barbara Zobian*