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TOP STORY OF THE DAY: Meet Carter Guess
You are invited to join a fight club: The #CarterGFightClub, that is, on July 9, 2022, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1127, 303 South Depot Street.
That day is a Jonah Fish Fry from 4-7 p.m., entertainment by Kris Anderson from 8-Midnight, a silent auction until 7 p.m., a live auction starts at 7 p.m., and a 50/50 Drawing will be held at 7:30 p.m.
It should be a fun day for the family and a 10-year-old boy fighting Neuroblastoma since October 2015.
With a delightful smile and a love of video games and fishing, Carter Guess is excited, ready to tackle his social anxiety about crowds and meet some new people during the upcoming fundraiser. Carter is fighting, and currently doing well at this time, his third round of Neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma is a form of cancer caused by the abnormal development of immature nerve cells known as neuroblasts.
During development, a newborn experiences most neuroblasts that grow and eventually become mature nerve cells before birth or in the first few months.
But in some rare cases, neuroblasts do not develop correctly, becoming tumors or Neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma is the most common type of childhood cancer in children under one, but the average age of diagnosis is between 1 and 2 years. But 90% of all cases of Neuroblastoma are diagnosed by age 5 and are rarely found in children over 10. (In rare cases, abnormal DNA is inherited from a parent. However, in most cases, it is the result of random gene changes that occurred at some point in the child’s development.)
Each child experiences a unique medical condition due to the mutations that occur with Neuroblastoma, which makes their treatment unique. Every two weeks, the Guess family travels to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio for chemo treatments while maintaining regular visits to Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis(the only place Carter can go for routine blood work). Jesse, a retired military veteran, and John, who works in Brazil, both stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnatti to stay near Carter.
“I’ve been very fortunate that my employer allows me to go with Carter as needed,” said John. “They have been there since the beginning.’
Jesse agrees their family is blessed.
“There are so many people I want to say thank you to, but I will never remember them all,” she said, struggling with tears. “This is Carter’s third fight with Neuroblastoma. We have never felt so much support before. You sometimes lose people along the way during these battles in life. It’s hard for many people, but they have never wavered. It’s such a feeling of family. We could never thank them enough. There are just not enough words.”
The Guess family will be at the event, raising funds to cover expenses for Carter’s cancer treatments and possibly an upcoming family trip to Hawaii.
“I want to swim with the dolphins,” Carter said. “I like dolphins. They are cool.”
However, this week, the family is off for another chemo infusion and daily chemo pills.
“Every other Thursday, we go back,” Jessie said, adding Carter’s numbers have looked very good these past few weeks. “They must have eyes on him and see how he’s doing physically in his labs.”
Jesse and John say it’s the third chapter for their family, but they are ready for it with the support of their community, whatever comes next.
“Neuroblastoma cancer is the most aggressive and frequent cancer for 5-year-olds. There are a lot of families locally who are also battling this,” Jesse said as John nodded. “We are so grateful this story is getting the spotlight for these families.”