(DAPHNE, Ala.) It's been a little over a month since 16-year-old Chris Dillon was diagnosed with AML leukemia. Just days after his first doctor's appointment, he and his family made the move to Memphis for treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Local 15 spoke with Chris and his family from Memphis for an update.
He tells us his days, normally filled with classes and football practice at Foley High School, are now very different.
"I walk in, I go to assessment triage, which is blood work, and then I go to a doctor and visit," Chris says.
He's not going it alone. Mom Jeana, siblings Cassidy and Cody, and other family members have joined him along the way.
"They help me get through this," he says. "It's like, the rock."
"I'm dealing with it really well," Jeana says. "I'm his strength and I know that, so I have no choice but to deal with it really well."
One of Chris' family members is about to make the sacrifice of a lifetime. His 15-year-old sister Cassidy is a perfect bone marrow match, and will be his donor in an upcoming transplant. She says she has no second thought about it.
"I don't think there's any other way I could contribute," Cassidy says. "This is the best thing, the best way I could contribute. There's no greater gift than, I guess, to be his cure."
Just 11 months apart, the two siblings crack up when asked how they feel about each other. But both understand the procedure they'll undergo is no laughing matter.
"You see things like this happen to other people," Cassidy says, "but then it comes to you and you're like wow, it's so real."
"If she wasn't a match, then we'd have to go look for a donor," Chris says. "We'd have to find the right kind of person, and we'd have to figure out how we'd get me to them."
Chris will need to complete one more round of chemotherapy before the transplant can happen. The close knit family is taking it all in stride the best way they know how.
"Every day is another day," Jeana says, "and that prognosis is good."
