LITHIA, Fla. — A 5-year-old in Hillsborough County is back on the baseball field and making new friends after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.
Caroline Wai said her son, Leo, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma at 2.5 years old in August of 2022.
She said her son would constantly cry and was having headaches.
"It took a couple weeks to get an actual full diagnosis, which was medulloblastoma, and so our doctor here had recommended we go up to St. Jude," said Wai.
Leo had surgery and chemotherapy at St. Jude Children's Research Center. He rang the bell, but a year later, another brain tumor was discovered.
"We had scans every three months. The June scan was a little questionable. They thought maybe they saw something growing, but they weren't sure, so we actually upped his September scan to August, which was at St. Jude, and that one showed he had a regrowth of a small tumor," said Wai.
After additional treatment, Leo's scans have been clean for a year.
"Technically, he's considered no evidence of disease. After five years is when, they say, full remission, cancer-free. We're at the one-year mark now," said Wai.
On Friday, Leo was back on the baseball field playing t-ball. He is making new friends and loves being outside.
"He is amazing. He was much stronger than I was. I don't know how he did it," said Wai.
"He loves to be on the field with his friends playing and being in the dugout, goofing off," she added.
The Wai family wants to help other children battling the same disease. They welcomed a new dog, Franky.
"He nibbles, and he jumps, and he tries to bite stuff like toys," said 5-year-old Leo.
Franky belongs to the 1Voice Foundation but lives with the Wai family. He is a therapy dog and is training to become a service dog.
The dog will visit hospitals and comfort parents who lost a child to cancer.
"If you're in a five-week hospital stay, how nice would it be to have this guy come along? Animals are very perceptive. They sense sadness. They sense pain, and they bring comfort," said Mary Ann Massolio, Executive Director for 1Voice Foundation.
Marry Ann Massolio is the Executive Director of 1Voice Foundation. She has worked for the past 30 years as a pediatric oncology social worker and lost her own son to cancer at 9 years old.
"Three years into my career working with the families, my own 9-year-old son, Jay, was diagnosed with fourth stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma, diagnosed 9 hours after my dad so we learned real quick a lot of things," she said.
The non-profit organization provides support to children and their families.
"The relationship between children and animals, people and animals is just magical," she said.
"He has visited the foundation. He comes to our tutoring program and also coming to our bereavement program for families that lost a child and just get to know him. He's kind of like a staff member," said Massolio.
For more information on 1Voice Foundation visit: https://1voicefoundation.org/
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