Let’s Help Our Mighty Zeus With His Fearless Fight! #TeamZeus

Zeus was born healthy and everyone who meets him is thrilled and entertained as he’s really adorable and delightful. When he was 3, we noticed that he still has not started talking and can barely walk. Most of the time, he’ll just scream and cry since he’s not able to relay to us what he wants or what he needs. My husband and I talked and we have decided to bring him to a Pedia who specializes with Neuro Development who then apparently diagnosed him with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It was so difficult to swallow. We were so down and miserable and it felt that the whole world was against us but we knew we have to move forward and provide him everything he needs.

Our whole family continued praying. We prayed to ask for guidance, strength and hope... hope that someday he will just be ok and he will be able to talk, act and run as normal children do. After learning what he has, Zeus then started with behavioral and speech therapy which lasted for more than 2 years. After a long battle, God finally answered our prayers and Zeus is finally able to speak and walk and act normally and we are beyond thankful to everyone who helped us in that journey.

Everything was going smoothly since then until this year when Zeus was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and has been classified under the High Risk category. Just hearing the word Cancer and Leukemia knocked us all down. It was unreal, it was heart-breaking. I don’t even remember how it felt like the first time hearing it. It was unbelievable and being sad is an understatement of how it actually feels like. The pain is torturing and you feel like you’re drowning without any chance of getting out or getting even a little air. It's horrifying to say the least.

Zeus immediately started chemotherapy to prevent more complications and to stop the Big C from spreading and taking over his body. Our doctor told us all the possibilities, risks and odds. Depending on how Zeus will be taking the chemo meds, the treatment can last between 3 and 5 years or even more. Zeus experienced a lot of medicine side effects during the 1st month of his treatment which includes nausea, vomiting, fever, hair loss and fatigue to name a few. Seeing your child suffering is excruciating and gut-wrenching and if it’s only possible to change places with him, I will definitely do it in a heartbeat.

Zeus was able to finish the first phase of the protocol, he came back to his normal self and I was given hope that he’ll indeed pull through. At the end of the 1st phase (Induction) he was declared in remission as leukemic cells can no longer be found in his Bone Marrow but the protocol must still be finished. It was a happy and winning moment. The whole ordeal was never easy and it never will be but we make sure to take one day at a time and also ensure to celebrate small victories.

After our chemo break from the first phase, we have returned to the hospital to start the next one and to our Oncologist’s surprise, they have found blasts in Zeus’ blood works which means that our enemy is back and his bone marrow is again producing abnormal white cells uncontrollably which means he had relapsed while undergoing in intensive treatment which also means that his enemy is aggressive. Their not yet done with us and it seems like we have not had enough. This time, we need to start a Relapse Protocol and will start all over again as per doctor’s advice. It was another frightening moment and until now, tears will just fall out from my eyes out of misery and fear. It felt like that all our efforts from the beginning were useless, it felt like I’m losing my faith but I still talked to Him and kept asking him to embrace us and make us feel we are also His child.

Our doctor gave us a road map to see how the therapy would look like from the start to the end and with this, we were also able to ask for rough estimates on how much the whole process would cost us and as you all know, the treatment for this disease will never be cheap but whatever it takes, we are holding on to God and we will do everything in our power to sustain his medical needs even if it takes us to ask for help to anyone financially. We feel that there are people willing to help and will give Zeus a chance to survive this.

I tend to ask more questions now but I know Zeus will pull through and I have claimed his healing already and I know someday, we will just be looking back just to see how far we’ve come and it will be a time for us to help and support others whom we could relate to. It will be a chance for us to give hope. It will be a chance for us to help others hold on to their faith. It will be a chance for us to celebrate victories with other families!

Be our life-saver now. Please donate at the following accounts:

Paypal: [email protected]

BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands): 4589169706
Account Name: Marciana Cornejo
Swift Code: BOPIPHMM

Gcash: 09294805690

Paymaya: 09294805690