All-Star Adrian

Before cancer, Adrian was taking boxing classes and in his spare time he liked to hang out with his cousins. His single mom, Mimi, was raising him and his two young sisters, and had just finished her licensed practitioner course.

Adrian started getting flu-like symptoms in October 2018. He was nauseous and complained of a sore throat. The doctor said that it was just the flu and that he should get lots of rest. “He wouldn’t eat at all,” explained Mimi. Then he got wheezy, so they sent him for a chest x-ray that showed a mass in his lungs, so they directed us to go to the hospital right away to get a full workup to see what was going on. We didn’t think that it was cancer, but that it was better to be safe than sorry.”

At the hospital, Mimi was told his white cell counts were in the 400s which the doctor explained meant cancer. “It was the kind of thing you see in the movies; you glaze over and attempt to process that news in your head. I started crying, but Adrian was in the room too and I tried to hold it in for his sake. I just couldn’t understand why my son had cancer, what could possibly be the reason?”

After a call with her sister, Mimi spoke with Adrian to help him understand his Lymphoblastic Leukemia diagnosis. He was a quiet child, so he didn’t say much, and Mimi said it was hard to tell how he was feeling. Thankfully, later the child life specialist came in and explained everything in terms that he could understand.

“They had us go to ICU, had to get his blood dialyzed to get the extra white cells out of his body,” said Mimi. “They had to put an IV into the jugular vein in his neck. Because of the mass in his lungs, there was a risk of him not being able to breathe. He asked if he was going to die, I said that there is that possibility, but the doctors here are great, they will do the surgery quickly, and I’ll be right here afterward.” Mimi said that surgery felt like an eternity.

Immediately after diagnosis and surgery, Mimi and Adrian stayed in the hospital for a month. After that month Adrian was leukemia free, but his treatment would continue for another three years. Leukemia is a sneaky disease and cells can appear at any time. Adrian would go to the oncology clinic five times per week because of his treatment. Meanwhile, Mimi was still in school, trying to get her degree to support her family. This schedule made it hard for her to do schoolwork and she was also working at a nursing home on the weekends to pay bills.

“The most devastating times were when he had to be alone in the hospital when I worked or looked after the girls. I was a single parent, and it was an impossible choice. There were times when I needed to stay with him, so I didn’t go to work which meant that I didn’t get paid. I had to get rent payments and other bill payments postponed, eventually, I got caught up, but it was always at the back of my mind.”

Another barrier to their journey - Covid hit in the middle of his treatment and the family found themselves living in a hotel when Mimi’s relationship ended and to cap it all, Adrian’s father passed away. Although he lived in Florida, he would do video calls with the kids almost every day. The family went through a huge number of changes which required Mimi to be incredibly brave.

“I remember one day I had to take a test for school and, right before that, I got a call that Adrian had had an allergic reaction to one of the chemo treatments. I wiped my eyes, and did the test. My family kept convincing me to drop out, but I said that I needed to get it done even more so I could have a stable income. I was determined. I am going to do this no matter what anyone says,” Mimi said.

The family received an Orange Envelope, our gift to newly diagnosed families. Then Pinky Swear supported the family with a gas and grocery gift card, and then a rent payment.

“It felt great that there was support out there. It was one big weight off my shoulders. It provided me with reassurance that everything would be ok. A big thank you for having this program, it helped so much to know that that support is there. And even after that happened, you kept in touch and invited us to events like the MN United Kick Childhood Cancer game.”

Adrian has been in remission since January 2022! He loves hanging out with his cousins and going to the gym. His main sports are boxing and jujitsu. Adrian says the journey was very painful, but with the support of friends and family, he was able to get through the chemo. He's just a regular teenager! And as for Mimi, she loves her job and just got engaged to be married. Despite many troubling moments, this family fought and overcame in more ways than one.