Jordan Pelser, battle with Burkitt’s Leukemia
Jordan is a happy, lively 3-year old little boy who grew up on a farm in Zeerust. He is such a sensitive soul and has a very big heart. In Feb 2014 he started complaining about pain in his legs. The pain later became constant and unbearable and he underwent numerous tests that lead to an operation on his right leg. On 11 March a bone marrow biopsy was done and he was diagnosed with cancer. The type of cancer could however not be determined.
On 13 March Jordan was admitted at Unitas Hospital’s Paediatric Oncology unit in the care of Prof David Reynders and Dr Omar. After a second bone marrow biopsy, he was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Leukemia. Burkitt’s Leukemia is a very rare but extremely aggressive cancer. There are only 2 cases of this cancer every 3 years in SA en Jordan is the first patient at Unitas suffering from it.
Burkitt’s Leukemia is a very tough cancer and Jordan had to receive very aggressive chemo (Class C), he started his first block on 28 March. He became very ill after this first block. As is the case with chemo, he was stripped entirely of his immune system which then made him susceptible to every virus and bacterium. He had one secondary infection after another and he was terribly ill. At this stage he also withdrew from the world and turned into himself. He even stopped talking.
The infection was slowly getting under control and he started live started creeping back slowly again. He is supposed receive a block of chemo every 21 days to keep the cancer under control but because of the setbacks he was only ready to start his next block of chemo on 5 May. Doctors only administered 2/3 of his prescribed dose of chemo because his body wasn’t ready for a full dose. 2 Days after his last dose of chemo Jordan’s fever started rising again and the other other side-effects returned. On 17 May blood tests showed that Jordan had a deadly bacterial infection in his stomach and he was literally at death’s door.
In the meantime a facebook page was created for him: Jordan’s Brave Journey. It is just amazing to see how many people’s hearts this little boy touched and the support is overwhelming.
Jordan’s mommy Yolandi had to relocate to Pretoria to be near the hospital. Jordan has a baby brother Chris (2) who has been living with his grandparents on the farm in Zeerust since February. Yolandi has since been retrenched because there was just no way she could get any work done remotely while she was staying with Jordan in hospital. She now has to rely solely on donations to live off, which includes paying all the medical bills not covered by the medical aid.
All donations are being paid into Jordan’s personal account. Proof of all expenses are kept and is available for inspection. Should someone have a problem with this arrangement they are welcome to contact Sanet van Wyk at 0829900439. She is busy working on a possibility of having the funds paid into a trust fund.
To follow Jordan on his facebook page click here or on his picture:
https://www.facebook.com/JordansBraveJourney?ref=br_tf