Eero is a 5-year-old boy who's sweet, caring, loving, and thoughtful. He loves his momma(Hannah), sissy(Piper), dad(Kurtis), Gunner(his horse), and Oreo(his cat).  Almost exactly 1 year ago, May 30, 2024, his mother took him to the ER because he was complaining his back hurt, was having trouble sleeping, and hadn't had a BM in a couple days.  Life would drastically change this night at 11pm.

 The ER visit started with scans to see if he was constipated.  During that initial scan the radiology report noticed that there was fluid in his left lung indicating possible pneumonia.  On this night the ER doctor looked at these results, looked at Eero who was energetic and vibrant with no other signs and symptoms of pneumonia, and dug a little deeper.  After more scans and an ultrasound a mass was found behind Eero's aorta.  It was at this point that his mother's world collapsed.  Alone in a dark, quiet, and cold room the Dr. took a deep breath and uttered those words that no one, let alone the mother of a 4-year-old wanted to hear.  "It looks like cancer."  His mother called his father that was home with his big sissy and shared the devastating news.  After some calls and hurried car rides, Eero and his parents were on their way to the Children's hospital in the Twin Cities.  After more scans and biopsies, it was discovered that in fact it was a pediatric cancer called Neuroblastoma that is mostly prevalent in children under the age of 5 years old.  The tumor was resting against his left lung causing the tissue to weep the fluid that was in his lung.  Eero and his parents met with the oncology solid tumor team and discussed what treatment would look like. Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and a double stem cell transplant. 

It was during his initial round of chemotherapy that his mother started researching just what exactly Neuroblastoma is and how to beat it. In her research she found that most of the country uses a protocol developed by the Children's Oncology Group(COG) but there were a couple hospitals trying to push the boundaries of treatment in other aspects. One of these hospitals is Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center(MSKCC) in New York City. Through research, support groups, and friends of friends whose children had this cancer.  With a lot of discussions and deliberations of pros and cons between Eero's parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, Eero and his parents made the trip and ultimately moved to NYC to discuss treatment with Dr. Brian Kuschner.

Dr. Brian Kuschner is a pediatric oncologist that had worked with the COG but wanted to find a better treatment for this specific cancer that didn't cause side effects such as acute hearing loss from certain chemotherapy medications.  The MSKCC protocol is an aggressive chemotherapy regimen, surgery, more chemo, proton radiation, immunotherapy and finally a vaccine trial(paid for by The Band of Parents(parents of kids who have gone through this battle of Neuroblastoma)).  With assurances from Dr. Kushner that he could beat this cancer, Eero started this protocol the following day. 

To date Eero has had 3 chest tubes, 2 central lines and med port placed, 7 rounds of chemotherapy, 2 surgeries( the tumor was saddled over his spine so they needed to deflate each lung separately), 14 rounds ( twice a day for 7 days) of Proton radiation, and 8 rounds of immunotherapy.  His initial MIBG scan gave him a curie score(measures the extent of Neuroblastoma in the body and helps predict the severity of the disease) was 14 of 30 which put him in the high-risk category because of disease and age.  His current MIBG scan gave him a curie score of 1 of 30, with the 1 being a spot in his arm that was radiated and hasn't fully died yet.  

Everything this warrior has been through he's still never far from a smile or an "I love you mom!"  He is currently spending his good weather days riding his battery powered tractor around the yard, helping his mom take care of Gunner, and waiting for "Sissy" to come home from school so they can play Legos, jump on the trampoline, or climb on the hay bales.  He has future scans in June and as long as they are clear he should hopefully start the vaccine trial shortly after.  His battle is far from over, needing scans and vaccine doses for the next 3 years.  When you look at him you don't see a 5-year-old that has been battling cancer for the last year, you see a little boy living life to the best of his ability.