After numerous blood tests and transfers between emergency rooms, the couple decided to take Hawken elsewhere for examination. There, he was diagnosed with Burkitt’s leukemia – a rare form of blood cancer.

Shannon and Bob Hunt, from Ohio, USA, took their 7-month-old son, Hawken, who had been ill for a long time, to the hospital where he was diagnosed with the flu. Shannon strongly objected, saying that with a mother’s intuition, she knew Hawken was suffering from something far more serious.

Finally, after numerous blood tests and transfers between emergency rooms, the couple decided to take Hawken elsewhere for examination.

There, he was diagnosed with Burkitt’s leukemia – a rare form of blood cancer. According to a non-profit organization dedicated to fundraising for pediatric cancer research, Burkitt’s leukemia accounts for only 1-2% of all leukemia cases.

The boy underwent a lengthy treatment plan that included six rounds of chemotherapy, eight platelet transfusions, four bone marrow aspirations, thirteen blood transfusions, and fourteen spinal taps—a procedure using a needle to extract fluid from the spine.

Rabi Hanna, head of the Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department that treated Hawken, said the boy’s treatment plan was very complex: “It was a huge challenge for such a young boy. Burkitt’s cancer was the most aggressive we had ever treated because the tumor doubled in size every one or two days.”

After five months, miraculously, Hawken’s condition began to improve, much to the astonishment and joy of his family and the medical team. Despite his compromised immune system, the boy was able to learn to walk, and Hawken was able to move around and live a healthy life like any other child. “Through months of battling cancer, Hawken taught us lessons about perseverance and purpose in life,” his mother, Shannon, shared. “I have one piece of advice for parents: pay attention to even the smallest changes in your child.”