Meet Caiden
Caiden is an autistic 9 year old boy currently in treatment for High-Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He was diagnosed in October 2024 after a recurring fever and leg pain.
​
He is considered high risk because of a genetic mutation found in his leukemia cells that does not respond well to standard treatment and requires more intensive therapy. The genetic mutation is Intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 (iAMP21). This genetic abnormality is found in about 2-5% of childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cases.
​
Caiden is in 4th grade, but due to the intense nature of his 2.5 year treatment plan and his immunocompromised state, he had to miss almost all of 3rd grade and will continue to be out of school for the first semester of 4th grade for his health and safety.
​
Prior to getting diagnosed with cancer, we thought that autism would be Caiden's greatest obstacle. He was non-verbal and used an AAC device to communicate until 4.5 years old. He started speech therapy at 18 months old and occupational therapy at 2.5 years old and continued both for many years until he caught up to peers his age. He was also in Early Childhood Special Education until age 5 when he was able to transition to general education and has been thriving and exceling in gen ed since then.
​
Despite this unimaginable cancer journey, Caiden has kept his luminous spirit bright. His smile radiates light and love, and he is everything that is good in this world.
Purpose
Caiden is the founder and vision behind Caiden Cares. Throughout his thousands of hours spent at the hospital over the last year, one thing that always brought him joy and excitement on those gloomy days were LEGOs. Having a new LEGO set to look forward to helped with the exhaustingly long hospital stays and clinic days. Thanks to the support of our village, Caiden has been able to build over 100 LEGOs since starting treatment and he wants to share that same joy with other children fighting cancer.
Mission
Caiden Cares' mission is to provide joy to pediatric cancer patients by donating LEGOs and other play-based resources to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Tx.
Vision
Caiden is the full driving force behind the ideas and plans for the future. He has shared that he hopes to donate LEGOs for various holidays throughout the year because he knows firsthand how lonely it is spending those days in the hospital away from family and friends; and he would like to spread happiness through LEGOs and give these kids something to look forward to while they are in the hospital.
​
In the future, Caiden hopes to be able to donate huge End-of-Treatment LEGO sets to kids celebrating this monumental achievement and plans to solicit sponsors for each child by sharing their story.
​
He hopes to continue bringing awareness to childhood cancer and creating conversations about how people can help kids going through treatment now, how we can make improvements for all the future children who will be diagnosed with cancer, and honoring the kids who didn't get a chance to grow up.
Thank you
Thank you for being here and for being a part of Caiden's mission to spread joy and kindness to children fighting cancer like him.
