ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — A South Florida family who has a child with leukemia is sharing their pain, hardships and courage in hopes it can help another family.
Each year about 3,000 children and teens are diagnosed with the cancer of the blood and bone marrow in the United States, including 25-30 at Palm Beach Children's Hospital in West Palm Beach.
Charity DeLeon said there are good days and bad days. “Some days he just wakes up and cries all day," she said about her son, Tobias, the younger of their seven children.
Their new normal is anything but normal.
“His hair is growing back light brown, and his hair was jet black before,” she said.
Last fall Tobias got sick. It started with flu-like symptoms. “And then we started noticing a lot of bruising. He didn’t want to eat anymore. All he wanted to do was nurse,” she said.
The devastating diagnosis came last December. “Just felt like my whole world caved and I was in shock,” Charity said.
Dr. Mathew Ramirez, a pediatric hematologist oncologist, said: “B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is our most common diagnosis in children.”
Ramirez is part of a team of doctors at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital caring for Tobias.
“The toughest part is the new diagnosis talking to the family,” Ramirez said.
Charity has turned to social media to share a painful journey without any sugarcoating to bring awareness.
“We need to talk about it as a society not just to inform parents about what to look for and how to care for their children but the devastation that this brings to a family, it destroys a family,” she said.
Their family includes caring for 14-year old daughter Sophie and her battle with a rare genetic disorder.
“Can’t go to school so she’s on hospital homebound so I worked from home because I care for her full time,” Charity said.
She ran a vegan bakery from her home garage until Tobias’ cancer diagnosis.
“This was it, this was my space, it's almost like that version of myself doesn’t exist anymore," Charity said.
Struggling on only their husband Felix's income, they made the difficult decision to sell their home in Greenacres.
“As much as we would love to keep our beautiful home, reality is we just can't sustain it.”
Their journey now continues with a new home in Port St. Lucie, finding hope in the good days. “Just day by day, that’s it. I hope you can help someone with this,” Charity said.
If you’d like to help the family, they have an Amazon Wish List and a Go Fund Me account.
