Published: January 25, 2009 12:19 am      

Geistown boy beating the odds

Five-year-old Elijah Ketley is a playful little boy who is full of spunk.

But just a few years ago it was a completely different story.

At 2 years old, Elijah was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that affects only 600 children nationwide per year.

Since then, it’s been an uphill battle to keep Elijah alive.

Kara Ketley said she and her husband, Al, first started to think something was wrong when Elijah began to suffer from fevers and was in extreme pain to the point he didn’t want to be touched. He also was walking awkwardly and even fell down steps.

“He just kept getting sicker and sicker and it was very frustrating because we knew something was wrong,” Kara Ketley said from her Geistown home.

Following a slew of medical tests, the family went to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh where Elijah was diagnosed with a type of cancer that attacks the nervous system.

“It was beyond devastating,” she said.

“Our whole world came crashing down on us.”

Doctors gave the boy a 34 percent chance of living.

“I went to the Lord because medicine can only do so much, and our hope has always been in Him,” Kara Ketley said.

The Ketleys decided to try an experimental program at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia that offered more encouraging results for survival, closer to 50 percent.

The frail boy went through months of high doses of chemotherapy.

He received two transplants of stem cells from his own blood. The transplants into his bone marrow were followed by injections of T cells to help fight off viruses.

“It was five months of back and forth to hospitals, and Elijah really didn’t see anyone for over a year because he had no immune system,” Kara Ketley said. “It was a big adjustment for all of us.”

When Elijah was finally able to come home, everything had to be sterilized and they had to install air conditioning because the windows couldn’t be opened.

“It was pins and needles around here for a long time,” she said.

Eventually Elijah’s health slowly got better, and he’s now living cancer-free. Should he remain cancer-free, he will officially be in remission in 2010.

“We have every expectation he’ll be cancer-free for life,” Kara Ketley said.

“He’s a rare success story, a true miracle, and he’s strong and healthy.”

Because Elijah is feeling so good, he is able to attend kindergarten at Johnstown Christian School.

“Every day is like the first day of school for him, he’s so excited to go,” Kara Ketley said.

She added that the family, including daughter, Abby, have learned a lot from this experience and it has made them appreciate things in life they used to take for granted.

“We’re so thankful to be through this, and I truly believe Elijah will live a full and happy life,” she said.