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.