BYRON SEVILLA JR.

Boy’s cancer in remission, but family finances are dire

Byron Sevilla Jr., 4, was diagnosed at 3 years old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. His mother, right, comforts him at Palms West Hospital.

By SCOTT EYMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Even a 4-year-old knows something is wrong when his hair falls out. The day when the white sheets were covered with soft black hair was the day Byron Sevilla Jr. asked his father, “Am I going to die?”

“No,” his father replied, with a certainty he didn’t really have.

It began in May, when the little boy complained that his feet hurt. His father, Byron, Sr., began carrying him everywhere. Eventually, the diagnosis came: acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

A month before his son was diagnosed, Byron Sr. had lost his job as an exterminator. And so the Sevillas, who live in Port St. Lucie, were directed to the care of Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee. For a while it was touch and go — at one point, Byron Jr. was in the hospital for 12 days straight.

Now the leukemia has gone into remission, but Byron Jr. still has to come every 10 days or so for chemotherapy, a regimen that will continue for the next three years.

The lurch of expense — at one point, gas for the more than 100-mile commute was running $400 a week — coupled with loss of income forced the family into bankruptcy. Among the things that were repossessed was the car.

Byron was going to receive a chemotherapy treatment, but a high fever caused him to be hospitalized instead.

“He was always the most well-behaved of our kids,” says Byron Sr. of his boy. “Attentive, loved the outdoors, loved movies. Now, he’s quiet and wants to stay home. He’s more thoughtful. He doesn’t complain much, but sometimes he cries because his port (the opening in his chest for chemotherapy chemicals) hurts him.”

It’s true — while undergoing procedures at Palms West, Byron Jr. has the methodical, slightly solemn attitude common to critically ill children. He smiles and laughs, but at a low wattage, and he doesn’t fling himself around the room with the abandon common to 4-year-olds.

Byron Jr.’s condition has stabilized, but for his parents, Byron and Daicy, the family’s financial condition remains perilous. They’ve been commuting to the hospital in a borrowed car whose radiator has to be filled with water before every trip. Some financial support has come from Byron Jr.’s grandmother in Kentucky, while Medicaid is picking up the tab for the chemotherapy.

But the financial way forward remains unclear.

BYRON’S WISH
To enable them to continue with the chemotherapy treatments at Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee, Byron’s Port St. Lucie-based family needs some or all of the following: a car, gas cards, money for medical expenses for their four other kids, help with rent. Young Byron, an avid fan of Spider-Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would love new games for his Nintendo DS.

NOMINATED BY: Parent Child Center Pediatric Oncology Support Team