Carson Sims

Carson was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in May 2014. Before his diagnosis, Carson was a completely healthy little boy, and his family never thought something like this could happen. His symptoms began in March 2014, when his family noticed a knot on the left side of his neck. He felt fine, but his parents took him to the pediatrician anyway. They did some lab work, which only showed elevated inflammatory markers, and the doctor was unsure of what was causing the knot as well. Over the next few weeks, Carson had to visit the doctor multiple times, and he was diagnosed with a double ear infection each time. Then Carson’s symptoms began to change at the beginning of May. He was not himself; he had lost weight, was bruising very easily, had constant belly pain, and now he had a knot on both sides of his neck. Needless to say, his family was very concerned, and at another doctor’s visit on May 12, 2014, the doctor took one look at him and knew something was very wrong. That day, approximately 2 hours after Carson had blood work drawn, they heard the words no parent ever wants to hear: “Carson has cancer.” He was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, and he was immediately admitted to the Aflac Cancer floor. He had a port inserted 2 days later and began chemotherapy that same day. Over the next 9 months, Carson had chemotherapy infusions weekly and also had to have lumbar punctures to hide and/or relapse in the spinal column/CNS, so the lumbar punctures were imperative in his treatment, in order to ensure that the cancer had not spread there. Carson also had to be admitted to the hospital multiple times for high-dose chemotherapy treatments. In late January 2015, he also underwent 8 rounds of cranial radiation at Emory. Carson remained on treatment, going for monthly chemotherapy infusions for the next 36 months, and he had a lumbar puncture every third month. Carson’s family feels so blessed that he responded so well to treatment! Even though it was a tough battle, they are happy to say Carson completed his treatment on August 27, 2017! He will continue to go for check-ups on a regular basis, but his family remains hopeful that he will stay cancer free!