Hello everyone, my name is Slater. I’m currently 6 years old.  In the late summer of 2024 i started to not feel so well. I had a constant pain in my side and it caused me to stop eating and being very fatigued. After a few weeks and trips to the doctor I had an ultrasound that showed a mass on my right kidney. After a few more weeks of testing I was diagnosed with a rare type of pediatric cancer called Neuroblastoma. This is a very rare type of pediatric cancer that usually only affects kids under 5. “I was almost in the clear.”

Very quickly I learned that with my diagnosis I would have about 12 to 16 months of treatment including,  6 rounds of chemotherapy, a resection surgery to remove the tumor on my kidney, “possibly my whole kidney”, 2 stem cell transplant, proton radiation therapy, and 5 rounds of immunocell therapy. This was in fact a very scary thing but I knew I could tough this out.

With the help of the fantastic staff of Loma Linda university children’s hospital  including nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, PCAs, child life specialists, surgeons, and everyone else I can’t remember, “I’m only 6 cut me some slack” I managed to over come the odds and am now in remission and cancer free.

Since the end of January I have got to go back to school, begin seeing my friends and family again, whom which we had to isolate from due to my low immune system, also start making new friends outside of the hospital and just be a normal kid again. I love monster trucks and race cars, and dirt bikes, and I’m very into music, some of my favorite bands include: slipknot, a day to remember, and blink-182. I love to be outside and ride bikes and skateboards and scooters and pretty much anything else that’s an outside activity. 

Since being home my family and I have been trying to come up with a way to give back to the people that helped me when I was down. I came up with the idea after seeing my friend toan going thru the same thing as I was to make my own skateboards and sell them with all proceeds going to the pediatric oncology unit at loma linda. I am so thankful for everyone that’s been part of my journey and I hope that anyone reading this finds solace in my story and takes the opportunity to help those who need it desperately. 

Thank you all so much. 

If you’d like to donate, please donate to Loma Linda university children’s hospital pediatric oncology and hematology department.