Team Anders

Funds Raised will be Directed to Leukemia Research 

Anders is a vibrant, energetic, athletic,13 year old boy who loves his friends and a bit of mischief if we are honest. It hardly seems possible that Leukemia has been running through his veins undetected, while we thought he was thriving and living his best life. On Friday, July 28, 2023 our world, as we know it, came to a screeching halt. Anders was admitted to The Hospital for Sick Children, and an army of smart, wonderful people immediately began the work to pin down his diagnosis and treatment plan. Anders has been diagnosed with AML with a FLT3 Mutation. 

If you are anything like us, this isn't familiar language. We knew very little about Leukemia, bone marrow, transfusions, different kinds of chemotherapy, and the list goes on and on. Thank goodness there are amazing researchers, doctors and health care professionals who do. And they do it with grace, kindness, patience and competence. 

Anders has a long path to recovery and is ready for the fight. He will be in hospital for many more months, with several rounds of chemo and ultimately a bone marrow transplant. In addition to the incredible team at Sick Kids, we are grateful to be surrounded by a loving and caring community, who all ask what you can do to support.

For us, the most important thing is to support ongoing research into Leukemia treatment, which in many cases is still in early phases. Anders is benefitting from treatments that are cutting-edge, just out of clinical trial, and in some cases not available in Canada without Compassionate Access. Of course we believe they will save his life, but it underscores that there is still a lot of work to do to understand the disease and to develop new treatments that save more lives.