A family of eight from Virginia is stuck in Colorado after their son received a shocking cancer diagnosis.
Nick and Melissa Thomas were on their way back home from an Alaska cruise with their six children when their oldest son, Marshall, started feeling ill.
The 16-year-old had been diagnosed with mononucleosis before the trip and was reportedly feeling better after taking antibiotics.
But when the Thomases landed in Denver on Saturday to make their connecting flight, he was so weak he could barely walk, according to Denver 7.
Marshall was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with leukemia, a blood cancer.
Marshall Thomas, 16 (pictured), of Suffolk, Virginia was diagnosed with mononucleosis earlier this month, but was cleared to go on a family trip to Alaska
During the course of the trip, Marshall gradually became weaker. When his family flew to Denver, Colorado, on Saturday to make their connecting flight, he could barely walk. Pictured: The Thomas family with Marshall (back row, far left)
‘It’s like walking in a fog. Just one foot in front of the other,’ Marshall’s mother, Melissa, told Denver 7. ‘It just feels unreal.’
A week before the family was set to go on vacation, Marshall was diagnosed with mononucleosis, also known as mono.
Doctors told his parents that he would be fine to go on the trip as long as he took antibiotics.
Marshall’s parents say he started feeling better but, towards the end of the trip, he began feeling weak again.
‘He’s a pretty athletic kid. Strong as an ox. Doesn’t get sick really often at all,’ his father, Nick, told the station.
The Thomases flew to Denver on Saturday to catch their connecting flight back home to Suffolk, Virginia. Marshall could barely walk by the time they landed.
‘The flight attendant suggested we have a paramedic look at him once we landed,’ Melissa said.
Paramedics examined Marshall and recommended that he be taken to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora.
It was there that the teenager was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
ALL is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many immature white blood cells called lymphocytes.
They crowd out normal white blood cells, causing the body to have a harder time fighting infections.
Symptoms include shortness of breath, easy bruising, frequent bleeding and chronic infections.
Because ALL attacks the body’s infection-fighting cells, sufferers often develop sore throat infections, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
‘Acute’ means the disease as a chance of quickly spreading throughout the body meaning that early treatment is vital, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
Thomas was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a blood cancer. Pictured: The Thomas family with Marshall (back row, far left)
Doctors told Thomas’s family that he needs to remain in the hospital for a month so he can receive treatment. Pictured: The Thomas family with Marshall (back row, center)
The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 6,000 adults will be diagnosed with ALL in 2019 and about 1,500 will die from it.
According to a closed Facebook group, the Thomases’ former nanny, who lives in Denver, took in the family.
‘She’s moving next week out-of-state so we have to find some place for our family,’ Melissa told Denver 7.
Doctors have told Marshall’s parents that he needs to remain in Colorado for a month, but that there’s a 90 percent chance he will be cured.
However, Marshall has faced several health issues over the last four days.
Since being in the hospital, he’s gone into septic shock, which occurs when sepsis leads to life-threatening low blood pressure.
Additionally, according to a recent Facebook update, a CT scan on Tuesday found an infection – likely staph – and possible fungus in Marshall’s lungs that is currently being cleared up with an antibiotic and an antifungal mediation.
‘The doctors here have given us a lot of hope, and everybody seems very confident, but obviously it’s not a road anybody wants to walk down,’ Melissa told Denver 7.
The family is now asking for donations so they can find a house to stay in while Marshall undergoes treatment.
If you would like to donate, you can do so via PayPal with the email address MarchForMarshall@gmail.com or through the Denver Channel 7 Gives program.