Adapted from original Instagram post:
On December 18 I took Forrest to the ER in Libby, MT after a common cold started giving him croup symptoms. He was wheezing and having some trouble getting full, good breaths which led to a couple panic episodes during nap time and in the evening. It was 10:30 by the time I decided to go ahead and take him to the ER. We expected to be given a simple breathing/nebulizer treatment and sent on our way. Instead, an abnormal chest x-ray showed a wide swath of white in what was supposed to be the black abyss of his lungs. A CT Scan was quickly ordered and its results made my world come crashing in. A massive growth in Forrest's chest was wrapping around his trachea and esophagus constricting his airway to a 2mm pinhole—a coffee straw sized opening. At 2 am Forrest and I were transported in an ambulance to Spokane's Sacred Heart Children's Hospital: 4 nerve wracking hours in a snow storm. Within 24 hours Forrest was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia.... a "liquid tumor" form of cancer found in the blood, marrow, and organs throughout his entire body. Even more pressing than dealing with the cancer, though, was the immediate need to increase his airway, by strategically reducing the mass in his chest without sedation or anesthesia.
My parents and sister (with Ari and Finley) quickly followed from Libby the next day and Bo was put on the nearest convoy out from his deployed location in Afghanistan. An incredible team of doctors and nurses have rallied around us here in Spokane where we will be for at least a month before being transferred to a Children's Hospital in MI. As you can imagine, we are reeling and covet your thoughts and prayers. We believe in a personal, powerful God who is the ultimate Healer. Forrest's cough/cold and subsequent x-ray saved his life; they estimated that pinhole would have closed in a matter of days and he would have died in his sleep. The intervention that came because of a cold was a miracle, and we are believing it will only be followed by more miracles as medical advancements and Forrest's tough little body fight this disease.