The Superhero

What started out as leg pains preventing a two-year-old from being an active little boy quickly turned into a daunting diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Aiden was quickly taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital where he started his treatment, and seven days following his initial chemo treatment – Christmas Day – Aiden’s family was told there was no disease to be seen. 

When Aiden is asked what his superpower is, he says “fighting cancer!” and he did just that and more along his journey. He continued to receive treatment for years following the news that there was no disease evident in his body and relearned how to walk, but he used his superpower strength to get him through it all. This happy little boy who absolutely loves dinosaurs would walk the halls of the hospital “with his ‘Superhero’ Cape” and would roar “telling everyone he was going to make his cancer EXTINCT!”

Aiden celebrated his last chemotherapy treatment and got to ring the bell on March 6, 2021 after 1,174 days of his treatment, and today he continues to be the happy and brave kid he has always been. Kids like Aiden are who BuckeyeThon is fighting for, as we know that Aiden and kids like him only deserve the utmost support during their journeys. Aiden’s family speaks of Aiden as “a loving little boy to show us each how to face such big battles with strength and positivity.” We all have a lot that we can learn from Aiden and other children fighting pediatric cancer and blood disorders.