KARSEN BERON

#KARSENSTRONG

Karsen is an 8-year-old boy from San Diego, California
and we’re on a mission to raise $5,000 to send Karsen and his family
on a DREAM Trip to Disney World and Give Kids the World Village
where they can make wonderful memories together,
OUTSIDE of the hospital!

Karsen was diagnosed with Stage 4 High-Risk Neuroblastoma when he was 4 years old. His disease was MYCN Amplified making it fast-growing and extremely aggressive. And his pathology and histology presented themselves as unfavorable. At diagnosis, we were so blindsided. Karsen appeared to be everything a healthy strong 4-year-old boy should be. Prior to his being diagnosed, he loved to wrestle his siblings and dad, he loved swimming in the pool, riding his little bikes, and going to preschool with all the friends he was making. Immediately upon diagnosis, Karsen was hospitalized for 27 days. He had no idea what was going on, why he was there, and when he would leave. Karsen had no idea what the word cancer was or what it meant. As a family, we feared the worst and felt the diagnosis was grim and dark. Our lives were immediately flipped upside down. The little boy we loved to wrestle with, we were now afraid to touch. I remember having a fear of touching him too hard. Karsen went from never taking any medicine to having multiple syringes of medicines that tasted awful to take. My daughter Paige was 20 at the time, she was in college trying to get a degree in nursing. The news of his diagnosis came the day before one of her final exams. She was a wreck! Fortunately, her professor understood the severity of the situation and allowed her to leave promptly after the exam. My son Beau was 17. He was a senior in high school. He had already been struggling with his grades. And when all focus went to Karsen, he started to fall even further behind. I had to pull my son out of public school and have him do a homeschool program through the district so he would graduate on time. The diagnosis affected us all in a different ways. Karsens childhood was ripped from him, Paige’s schooling took an immediate halt, Beau was pulled from public school, and my husband Kenny and myself running our business now from a hospital room while fighting for our son’s life. We’re almost 4 years into this journey and not a day goes by that any one of us doesn’t fear a relapse and our lives being thrown back into chaos.

Karsen loves going to school and making friends. But with the diagnosis and treatment he has had, and then with COVID hitting, we couldn’t allow him to go to school. Karsen is homeschooled. I feel bad that he has missed out on so much. He’s missed out on making those childhood friends that should be with you through all of the adolescent years. I feel bad he misses out on school activities, field trips, and more. We as a family have missed out on the major firsts..his first day of Kindergarten, graduating kindergarten, school pictures each year, and birthday parties with cupcakes taken to school to celebrate with the classroom. He’s missed out on so much and continues to miss out on those things.

Karsens’ dream to go to Give Kids The World resort would mean so much to him. To go to a place where he can fully immerse himself into being the kid he is and should be would be amazing. As a family, to watch him thrive and live his best life having the best time ever is all we want to see. We want the very best for Karsen and for him to get back a portion of his childhood that was taken from him.

We know we will never be able to go back in time and get back what has been lost, but we just pray that his future is free of all disease and that some of his wishes and dreams can come true, and that those shining moments will outweigh anything he has missed along the way.

- Kristen Beron