Nate is 6 years old and is a fun-loving kid who loves to play with his friends, looks up to his daddy, enjoys being a big brother to sisters Ali and Audrey, and likes to play all kinds of sports.  Nate has been fighting leukemia (ALL) since diagnosed July 30, 2007.

Nate was a "regular" kid making preparations to start kindergarten last year when a finger prick at his pediatrician wellness checkup revealed a low hemaglobin level.  Within four days, Nate had been diagnosed with leukemia and he began chemotherapy at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.  This was a devastating time for our family.  Our hearts were broken and we were afraid.  We quickly learned that ALL is the most common type of childhood leukemia and that it is about 80% treatable.  The first goal of treatment is to put it into remission.  Thankfully, this was accomplished in Nate during the first 30 days of difficult treatments.  After remission was achieved, we were told that there were several phases of treatments left lasting a total of 3 1/2 years.  The first 8 months were the most difficult as Nate felt bad quite often during these months.  He lost his hair, had a lot of weight fluctuation, had to receive blood transfusions and platelets several times and stayed away from any groups of people for these months to avoid additional illness.

 Our family travelled at least two days each week for 8 months for Nate's treatments.  Nate had a home hospital teacher from his elementary school work with him each week to complete kindergarten.  Our family had Sunday school at home.  Nate was not able to be around friends countless times.  However, Nate made it through these difficult times and is doing great.  The maintenance phase of treatment still requires four different chemotherapies, but he tolerates it much better than the earlier phase treatments.  He still gets really tired and extremely hungry when taking steroids each month and he is more susceptible to illnesses than one normally would be, but he is able to live a kid's life.

Where Nate may not have been able to be a "regular" kid, we feel he has become an exceptional one in the face of this challenge.  Nate has 2 1/2 years of maintenance treatment left, and prayerfully, he will have leukemia behind him.  God bless you for your interest in his story.

Written by:  Stacie Richard, Nate's mom

Update: Sadly, Nate passed away in June of 2009.