A Santa Clarita Valley family is asking for the community’s help to raise funds for a 10-year-old boy’s surgery to help heal a rare bone condition in his jaw.
Austin Haddock is only 10, but he has already gone through quite a bit of living already. The condition of the tumor consuming his lower jaw is so rare there are fewer than 500 cases reported worldwide.
[GoFundMe page for Austin]
It is both fun and hard being 10. It is a time of excitement, exploration, learning and discovery, so the fewer complications pushing into this space, the better. It’s easier to go through this period of transition with friends, and Austin fights for this little bit of normalcy every day.
Austin has been diagnosed with a bone condition called Melanotic Neuroectodermal Tumor of Infancy (MNTI), a rare condition that primarily affects the jaws of newborns.
Discovered when he was only four months old, Austin has endured many surgeries as dental implants are placed in his jaw during these critical growth years so he can have a satisfying life later.
As the family preps for future surgeries to come, Austin’s uncle has started a GoFundMe page to hopefully defray the cost of both current and future medical expenses. This page gives a somewhat detailed history of Austin’s tribulations.
Striving to be a future engineer, Austin is involved in all the normal activities and wonderments of being ten – Xbox, Cub Scouts and hanging out with his friends. He has had numerous surgeries as his doctors work with various dental implants that will stimulate growth and reduce the rate of degradation condition produces.
After his numerous surgeries, there is sometimes a little slippage of school studies as his body adjusts to the pain, but Austin continues to bounce back.
“This boy has an amazing amount of strength”, said his uncle, Brett Haddock. “You would never know that he has been going through this his entire life. Austin is just a great, regular kid.”
Austin receives the bulk of his treatments at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. With so few cases around the world, there is not a team of doctors that can be flown in from around the globe, so medical strides are being made right in the Southern California area.
“Children’s Hospital has just been great,” said Haddock. “This is such a rare condition, we are lucky to have someone locally at Children’s Hospital who can stay on top of it.”
The Santa Clarita community is known for pulling together and Haddock hopes that he can focus that community attention through the funding page.
“We don’t know what the future holds, said Haddock. “We are crossing bridges as we come to them.”
– Chas Hoard
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21 Comments
A car crash can get 25-100 likes in 15 minutes. This post has 1 like (mine) after 13 minutes.
Like this little guy and at least say a prayer ??!
What were you doing at 10 years old?
The response is disgusting! The rain attracts more attention…so sad…
Yes, we set up a page at https://www.gofundme.com/jj4mx3ws
Thank you!
Brett – that question came through our Facebook page. (Some people on Facebook can’t grasp the idea of clicking on the link to read the story.) If you want the Facebook reader to see your reply, you’ll need to reply on our Facebook page.
If it’s any consolation, this has 6,000+ views in 2 hours
I can stir the soup sometimes.
I agree. We build bridges for mountain lions to cross the freeways. We send our youth and our money to other countries to help. We fly kids and animals in from other countries for free surgeries and yet, the children of loyal tax payers don’t get what they need without their parents going bankrupt. American Cancer Society only uses 4% to fund childhood cancer research. Shame on us. Maybe other countries will fund our kids. So sad
Confirmed that ACS uses only 4% for childhood cancer. What a shame. Go Gold in September!
Is there a go fund me page? Where can we donate?
Click on the link.
Got it thank you
Here it is. https://www.gofundme.com/jj4mx3ws
@Sharon Drury Walsh. Click on the news link above.
Duh, ok thank you!! How did I miss that?
Here is the direct link to Go Fund Me. https://www.gofundme.com/jj4mx3ws
Joe Messina
Prayers ?
??????????????????????????
Thank you to everyone for all your support and prayers!
Thank you again to everyone! I spoke with the surgeon’s office and they said we need half of the money to do the procedure and then we have 4 weeks to pay the balance.
I could not resist commenting. Exceptionally wel written!