About

Ryker Freistat-Davis, born on December 4, 2013, is a silly, active, and loving child.  He is the life of the party. Unfortunately, on August 9, 2017 he become just 1 out of approximately 250 children diagnosed with T-ALL (T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) in the U.S.

Ryker is an only child to a 22 year old mother currently attending college and a 25 year old father who cares for Ryker full time while also taking college courses. Currently Ryker's parents are both college students with no income already facing intimidating hospital bills. They are reliant on family, friends, and the community to get through this tough time. 

Before the diagnosis Ryker loved to play with animals, especially the new born goats  and chicks at his grandmother's farm. He loves looking at waterfalls and going to the model train museum at Balboa park. Ryker is a train fanatic and can answer any train related question asked to him. He also loved to go swimming with Mia, the family dog and his best friend. Because of Ryker compromised immune system and long hospital stays he won't be able to do these things anymore. 

The treatment plan will be at least 3.5 years with a 5 year goal to cure.  Your gift is for the long haul for Ryker and others like him.

The Rally for Ryker Foundation will help support kids like Ryker and his family through their journey to beat cancer. It will also bring awareness to a very small percentage of the population that contracts this disease and to bring more money to research.  The Foundation will assist children and their parents with medical costs, travel, room-and-board, and at home care cost.

The long term goal is to, with the latest technologies, provide a "cleanroom" bedroom for the child's home at NO COST to the family.  As the doctor's know, many causes of the most significant issues during Chemo and even death is caused by viruses, bacteria and germs that attack the patient while his or her body's defenses are down.  We want each child to be able to go home during their treatment to an environment that will protect them as well as their hospital room, if not better.

What's Happening?

Ryker is under the best care in the World.  Dr. Hilda Ding and her Team at Rady Children's Hospital is not only in the fight, but leading it; holding Ryker's hand all the way to being cured.

https://www.rchsd.org/programs-services/cancer-blood-disorders/

Gift for RYker

We are also accepting non-tax deductible donations specific for Ryker's everyday needs and the financial burden on his family.

"Gift for Ryker"

You can also find us at our GoFundMe Page.  

Click here:

By donating on this website, we save ~8% in fees charged by Go Fund Me.  So, please use this website.

About

types of childhood leukemia...

The type of leukemia a child has plays a major role in both treatment options and the child’s outlook (prognosis). Determining the type (acute lymphocytic, acute myeloid, etc.) and subtype of the leukemia is done by testing samples of the blood, bone marrow, and sometimes lymph nodes or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as described in “ How is childhood leukemia diagnosed?”

For most types of cancer, determining the stage (extent) of the cancer is very important. The stage is based on the size of the tumor and how far the cancer has spread. But leukemia is not staged like most other cancers. It starts in the bone marrow and quickly spreads to the blood, so leukemia cells are already scattered throughout the body.

Still, it’s important to know whether the leukemia cells have started to collect in other organs such as the liver, spleen, lymph nodes, testicles, or central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). For instance, if the leukemia cells have spread to the central nervous system in large numbers, they will be seen in samples of CSF. Treatment must be more intense to kill these leukemia cells. This is why a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) is done as part of the early diagnostic testing.

Acute lymphocytic (lymphoblastic) leukemia (ALL)

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is a fast-growing cancer of lymphocyte-forming cells called lymphoblasts.

Classification based on how the leukemia cells look (morphology)

In the past, doctors used the French-American-British (FAB) classification to divide ALL into 3 major groups (L1, L2, or L3) based on how the cells looked under the microscope. Some doctors may still refer to these categories. But newer lab tests now let doctors classify ALL based on more than just how the cells look under the microscope.

Classification based on immunophenotype

Newer types of lab tests can help determine the subtype of ALL and the patient’s prognosis. These tests help divide ALL into groups based on the immunophenotype of the leukemia, which takes into account:

• The type of lymphocyte (B cell or T cell) the leukemia cells come from
• How mature these leukemia cells are

B-cell ALL: In about 80% to 85% of children with ALL, the leukemia starts in B cells. There are several subtypes of B-cell ALL:

• Early precursor B (early pre-B) ALL (also called pro-B ALL)
• Common ALL
• Pre-B ALL
• Mature B-cell ALL (also called Burkitt leukemia). This type is rare, accounting for only about 2% to 3% of childhood ALL. It is essentially the same as Burkitt lymphoma and is treated differently from most leukemias. It’s discussed in detail in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Children.

T-cell ALL: About 15% to 20% of children with ALL have T-cell ALL. This type of leukemia affects boys more than girls and generally affects older children more than does B-cell ALL. It often causes an enlarged thymus (a small organ in front of the windpipe), which can sometimes cause breathing problems. It may also spread to the cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord) early in the course of the disease.

Aside from the subtype of ALL, other factors are important in determining outlook (prognosis). These are described in the section “ Prognostic factors in childhood leukemia.”

Source:  https://www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemia-in-children/detection-diagnosis-staging/how-classified.html