Carson is our oldest child and by all accounts was a lively, rambunctious, six year old. He was a few weeks away from his kindergarten graduation and loving his 3rd season of little league. Some of the kids on his baseball team started to get strep throat, so when Carson came down with a fever and sore throat, we took him to the pediatrician for antibiotics. When his fever continued after 7 days on antibiotics, we took him back to the pediatrician where we were given a different type of antibiotic.
On May 15th, 2016 we took Carson to the urgent care to see why after two rounds of antibiotics, his strep throat would not go away. After two blood draws at urgent care, we were sent to the local ER for 3 more blood draws. It was there that we received the devastating news that Carson most likely had leukemia. Carson’s initial white blood cell count was 400,000. Due to his dangerously high potassium levels, he was rushed to another local hospital where he would have ports placed and begin dialysis immediately. Carson was placed under anesthesia for the port placement and would never wake up again. On May 16th, Carson was officially diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. We spent the next 3 days watching our 6 year old boy’s body slowly shut down. He experienced breathing trouble, kidney problems and heart arrhythmias.
At 3:30am on Wednesday May 18th his heart stopped twice and the doctors were able to revive him.
At 2:58pm, after doctors tried everything humanly possible to save him, we held our little boy as he quietly went to heaven.
Carson was a shining light with a heart of gold. He never met a stranger and made friends easily. He was outgoing, funny, smart, kind, artistic, fearless and happy. He loved his stuffed Tiggers, dinosaurs, dancing, drawing, baseball, motorcycles, monster trucks, his little brother and sister and his friends. He had a zest for life that was contagious and refreshing. It was impossible to be in a bad mood around him. We miss his special spirit and big personality in our home. We continue to honor Carson’s memory through volunteer work for blood and childhood cancer.
Carson was the catalyst for Nevada Senate Bill 315 that was signed into law in May of 2019. This bill created a Rare Disease Council in Nevada to better track cases of childhood diseases throughout the state, provide education for physicians and parents on the symptoms of childhood cancer, and created Nevada’s first Childhood Cancer Awareness License Plate. Carson’s dream was to become a paleontologist, so the license plates were designed with a gold ribbon and roaring dinosaur with the words.
