By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

THE mother of an 11-year-old boy who was diagnosed with stage three cancer this summer is making a passionate plea for assistance.

The family needs $25,000 to cover medical bills to “adequately and effectively” address her son’s health concerns.

Kaiden Davis was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma stage 3A on June 21st.

His mother Shikera Adderley-Davis, 33, told The Tribune yesterday the diagnosis has deeply affected the family both emotionally and financially.

“Because we never thought cancer would hit home,” Mrs Davis said, “especially without any previous warning or signs.”

Kaiden, set to begin the seventh grade next month, was described by his mother as a “very generous, outgoing, sociable child” and “full of energy”.

Mrs Davis added he is very creative and a natural-born leader.

“In his (spare) time he reads books, plays games and loves to travel the world,” she continued, noting his dreams of becoming an air traffic controller or pilot when he grows up.

Regarding Kaiden’s reaction to the diagnosis, Mrs Davis told The Tribune: “He does understand and he (is) dealing with it better than expected. (His main) concern is losing his hair during the treatment process.

“But his first thought was cancer doesn’t have much good results – everyone dies. But he was made to understand his is treatable and he has to be determined to fight all the way.”

However, this treatment comes at a steep cost.

“Health care bills will amount to 25k for chemotherapy treatments,” Mrs Davis said.

Kaiden is being treated at the Bahamas Heart Centre on Collins Avenue. The family held a cookout on July 6th, the proceeds of which covered previous bills.

However, now his relatives are seeking help for phase two – chemotherapy.

Although another cookout is scheduled for November, Mrs Davis also set up a GoFundMe page to assist with raising money. However, no donations have been listed as yet.

On the page, Mrs Davis notes “countless doctor visits, immense agony and discomfort, sums of medical receipts and overdue payments” have haunted the family in the weeks since his diagnosis.

Although treatable, Lymphoma is a cancer that affects the white blood cells called lymphocytes and can be challenging to overcome physically and costly to treat.

 Kaiden’s GoFundMe campaign is titled: “Let’s Help Kaiden fight Cancer”.