Six-year-old Blake Robert, son to Kayli and Beau, and little brother to Haileigh is the hero of the day. Blake has had a rough go of it lately. But he is surviving and smiling ear to ear. Blake’s story starts like most children that have cancer. He had a relatively uneventful first few years. Then suddenly things started changing.
Blake was sick for over a month with several stomach pains. After many visits to Espanola General Hospital, and no specific diagnosis, Blake finally was sent to Sudbury. The doctor admitted Blake, and he stayed for four days and then they sent him home after the doctors failed to find the culprit of his stomach pain. Blake was home for a day when Mom decided it was time to go back to Espanola General. This trip they did an x-ray, ultrasound and then sent him home again with no diagnosis. Soon after that mom drove Blake too, Little Current, where their family doctor was working in the emergency room. She ordered blood work for Blake, and the blood work came back very alarming.
Wasting no time at all, the family doctor had Blake rushed to Sudbury, who then airlifted him to Ottawa. Once in Ottawa life changed dramatically for Blake and company. 15SEP14 the infamous day that the parents heard the words that their son has cancer. Blake was diagnosed with Leukemia, to be more accurate, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). And then so began the next journey of Blake’s life.
This part of the journey is expected to last three-and-a-half years. Blake will remain at Ottawa Sick Kids for 9-12 months while he receives treatment. Blake had surgery to replace a port; the had moved from his heart to his neck. After being granted some time away for the hospital, Blake returned after a couple days to only find out that he went from a low-risk patient to a high-risk patient. This meant that instead of having chemo administered once a week, to once a day for three weeks. The possibility of leaving in nine months went out the window and ensured that the visit would be closer to 12 months. But Blake took it like a champ and accepted the news in stride.
Next, Blake reacted unfavorably to the first round of chemo after only a week and a half of treatment. The incision that had to be made from moving the port became infected. Blake was having bad headaches to the extent of not being able to move and after five days of IV medicine he was back to somewhat normal.
09NOV14 Blake met the Toronto Maple Leafs. Blake had this to say about the encounter. “My favorite part about going to the Leafs game was getting to meet all the players, and getting a tour of Sportsnet. They signed my Toronto Maple Leaf jersey, and I got to take my picture with them,” Blake and the family were treated like stars at the game. They were there pre-game, and got to meet the players and watch warm ups. Also, they got to play with the cameras and then set in an sky box for the event. After the Leafs were done playing, the players brought Blake into the locker room where he got to ham it up with the big boys.
There have been countless of other things. As mom states: “Team Blake put on a fundraiser dance for us. They sold Toronto Maple Leafs tickets as well. Our hockey team has been selling Team Blake helmet stickers. Elite training in Espanola did a fundraiser workout on behalf of Blake. My cousin Brooke is raising $500 in support of Blake, where she will then cut her hair off and donate to Locks of Love. Haileigh and Blake’s school, Sacred Heart, does a new fundraiser each month for Blake,”
“He’s extremely brave and takes everything on with a smile on his face. We’ve hit a lot of bumps in our road, and everything possible that could go wrong, has gone wrong…but were still fighting this together.”
Haileigh Crawford Blake’s sister thinks that “Blake is a tough little boy and is so brave. I get to visit them often.”
There is more to the story, and you can read about it on Blake’s go fund me page, look for the link at the bottom of the post. Blake is a warrior. He has been fighting. The family spent Christmas in the hospital, and it’s been an adjustment for everyone.
So today 07JUN15, I hop into the saddle, to ride for this young man, Blake Robert. He is a fighter.
He is a hero. He has a long battle ahead of him, but with all the love that surrounds him, he’s at least got someone there to help him through it all. I am honored to ride in your name Blake. Keep winning and don’t quit fighting. I hope your day is blessed, Godspeed, Ken.
If you would like to share the story of your child, let Ken know. He will honor your hero or angel with a blog post and dedicate the ride to them. Email Ken @ ken@kens10000milesforchildhoodcancer.com
To donate and support Blake’s journey please visit http://www.gofundme.com/f6psxc