Crowdfunding created for 11-year-old Coquitlam boy fighting leukemia

A family in Coquitlam is doing their best to overcome a distressing situation after their 11-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia this week.

On Tuesday, Taylor was rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital’s emergency room when his headache and fever became progressively worse and was not responding to home remedies.

Tests were performed throughout the night and doctors later delivered devastating diagnosis to the family that Taylor was suffering from acute myeloid leukemia, a relatively rare cancer of the blood and bone marrow that interferes with the production of normal blood cells.

Taylor has since been relocated to B.C. Children’s Hospital, where he is expected to reside for the next six months in order to receive the critical around-the-clock treatment and monitoring he requires. He has already begun his first round of many treatments of chemotherapy.

But to make matters more difficult, Taylor’s illness also comes at a time when his mother is approaching the late stages of a particularly strenuous pregnancy: she is 28 weeks pregnant with twins.

Family friend Sara Reid describes Taylor as “an active, fun-loving” boy and Misty as an “amazing strong mom,” but she is hoping the public can come forward with donations to assist the family with their financial needs so that they can focus their energy on the health of Taylor, Misty and the twins.

“I have started a crowdfunding page to help her with any financial burdens she’s comes across over the next six months since she will need all her energy helping her son through this hard time and making sure her twins are healthy,” Reid told Vancity Buzz. “I’m hoping that money can be one of that last things she has to worry about right now.”