Making the Most of a Second Chance – St. Jude Inspire

Español | English My family loves traveling. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we started a tradition of visiting national parks. Long road trips became our thing. At this point, our two kids have been to 50 of them!  Interestingly, one of those road trips took us from our home in the Bay Area in California through Memphis, Tennessee, during the summer of 2023. It was just another pin on the map. I never imagined we would return under such different circumstances — or that we would end up living there for nine months the following year.  Around Thanksgiving in 2024, my 12-year-old daughter, Anika, developed what looked like an eye stye. We did hot compresses. We waited. But it kept getting worse. In February 2025, her doctors ordered additional tests and found out it was myeloid sarcoma, a rare cancerous tumor most common in people with acute myeloid leukemia.  A few weeks later, Anika was accepted to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® after meeting the criteria for a new treatment.  Within days, my wife and I, along with our children, moved to Memphis.  Those first months were hard. I remember that, as a scientist, I was frantically trying to figure things out and asking, “What can I do to help?” But as a father, I felt very powerless, not knowing what her treatment response was going to
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