Age 5 Boy with Leukemia Thanks God for Making Him Feel Better After Chemo
When children are stricken with a life-threatening disease, it is often heartbreaking. Leukemia is one of those diseases that makes children grow up well before they are ready.
Everett Michael Kondus is a 5-year-old boy fighting leukemia. But not even cancer has stopped him from living out his dream and thanking the one person that was responsible for his recovery.
Everett developed B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at an early age. He had been in and out of the hospital for 12 months, receiving rounds of chemotherapy every seven to 10 days.
After one of his chemo sessions, the boy asked to be filmed. He then thanked God for his health and for the capability to still play with his toys like any child of his age.
“I was just taking pictures of him and he said to turn the video on,” Tierra Kondus, Everett’s mother, told the Daily Mail.
“He just wanted to thank God for every little thing. Getting his cancer out, for the game he was playing, for the shirt he was wearing,” she continued. See the touching video here.
“He’s very quick to start praying for anything. Big or small, he’s had great faith through this.”
Even with nine different medications and the loss of all his hair twice, the boy was determined to live a happy life — and it was just about to get even better when the Make-A-Wish Foundation decided to give Everett the chance to go to Disney World.
“We were told by his social worker the day after he was diagnosed that she sent over his information to Make-A-Wish and that he would receive a wish,” Tierra told the Daily Mail.
“We got our first call from Make-A-Wish in March, and the trip was planned for October.
“When we asked him what he would want or if he wanted to go somewhere his immediate answer was Disney.
“He absolutely loves Disney World, all of the characters and the rides,” she added.
Everett enjoyed his time at Disney World, complete with a stay in a two bedroom villa with an ice cream palace and pool.
Everett was diagnosed with cancer in January 2018 after a trip to meet his grandparents in Alaska in December 2017. The boy had complained about leg pains, which caused his mother to take him to a doctor.
“I took him to the ER and the X-Ray showed nothing,” Tierra told the Daily Mail. “The next morning, he couldn’t walk at all and I took him to his pediatrician.
“She sent us straight to a different ER. He had x-rays, ultrasounds, and blood work done and they could not find what was wrong.”
It wasn’t until Jan. 25, that Everett had an MRI scan that revealed that he had Leukemia.
“A male and female doctor came into the room and said they had the results back,” Tierra said.
“The male doctor said, ‘unfortunately, it looks like Everett has either Leukemia or Lymphoma.’
“It felt like all of the blood in my body slowly drained out. Everything was blurry.”
But Everett didn’t give up, and he soon was on his way to recovery. While he has not beaten the disease yet, he is moving toward a more normal life.
“Cancer is scary when we hear of adults getting it,” Tierra said.
“It’s even worse when it’s a child that can’t even fully comprehend what they have. It is something you never expect to happen to your family or your child, we surely never expected it. But you just have to take it a day at a time.
“Making memories with them has always been important to me, but even more-so now.
“No one is promised tomorrow, so we are making the best of each day we have together,” she added.
Here’s to one brave little boy. We pray for your continued recovery, Everett, and hope you get back to Disney World again very soon!
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