Honored Kid

Ricky M.

Age 16
Ricky M. Kid Photo

Location

Satellite Beach, FL, US

Diagnosis

T-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoblast Lymphoma

Date of Diagnosis

January 2016

Status

In treatment

Treated At

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children

Change your kid's logo

My Story

Hi, I'm Ricky. My world was just turned upside down, with all the fun taken out. On friday, January 8th, my teacher, Ms. McMullen wrote me a clinic note - I had a sore throat and slight fever. My mom took me to our pediatrician, Dr. Stember - he noticed my collarbone lymph node was swollen (it turned out he gave us the couple of days we needed!). He sent us for xrays & blood work. We were taken to Nemours Children's Hospital via ambulance...They had planned to do the biopsy on Monday, but decided I needed to be in a trauma hospital because the surgery was very risky. The tumor encompassed 65% of my 2 upper chest quadrants. So another ambulance ride to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital - the ambulance driver was so awesome --- lights & sirens the whole way. On Tuesday, they did the biopsy....but my body didn't like the surgery. I ended up in a ventilated medicated coma until the tumor shrank enough that I could breathe on my own...it was more than a week. When they woke me up, I stayed awake for 30 hours. I was afraid to go to sleep because when I was in the coma, I could hear my mom & dad...but I couldn't see or touch them. I'm starting my 2nd month of chemo treatment on February 17th. I am very strong and will beat this cancer. All my ninja's give me strength to be a great warrior.  Ask to join my Ricky's Army page for my journey:     https://www.facebook.com/groups/1681304348754598/ Thank you for supporting me and the more than 300,000 kids worldwide who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. By sharing the gifts of your time, talent and money with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, you're supporting research to give all kids with cancer a better chance for a cure.

The Childhood Cancer Ripple Effect

Who's Honoring Me

Help Give Kids a Lifetime

Infants, children, teens and young adults are depending on us to find cures for childhood cancers — and to give survivors long and healthy lives.

Support lifesaving childhood cancer research today.

Photo submission policy

Please read the photo submission policy and accept below.

By submitting a photograph of yourself on www.StBaldricks.org, you agree to the following terms and conditions for submission of your photograph:

We strongly encourage all users to submit a before and after photo, so that donors and fellow participants can easily recognize and relate to one another.

Any photo containing cartoons, comics, celebrities, nudity, pornography, sexually explicit images or any copyrighted image (unless you own the copyright) is not permitted. This is because photos of celebrities and cartoon or comic images are generally copyrighted by the owner.

Uploading images of other people without their permission is also prohibited.

This photo submission policy applies to StBaldricks.org users. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation reserves the right to review all photos and to remove any photo for any reason at our sole discretion. If you see a photo on StBaldricks.org that you believe does not conform to this policy, email to WebQuestions@StBaldricks.org