There’s Always A Positive

Just weeks before Thanksgiving, Tristan was living the life of a typical high school senior in Evansville, Indiana.

He was balancing academic honors classes, performing in theater productions, competing in archery, and playing drums with local bands, all while looking forward to graduation. Then he started feeling unusually fatigued and sick.

“I was really tired and kind of miserable,” Tristan said. “Mom was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to the doctor.'”

What began as a visit to a local clinic quickly became an emergency. Blood tests indicated something serious, and within hours Tristan was being transferred to the University of Louisville Hospital. His white blood cell count was dangerously high, requiring immediate treatment with blood filtration and transfusions.

“It was terrifying,” his mother, Abbe, said. “We had no idea what to expect. Not a clue.”

Tristan was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He was started immediately on chemotherapy. The weeks that followed stretched through Thanksgiving and Christmas as Tristan endured nearly a month in the hospital. But even as life changed overnight, he refused to let the diagnosis define him.

“There were negative emotions,” he admitted. “Disbelief. ‘Why me?’ But there’s always a positive in things. That’s what I looked toward most of the time. It kept me going.”

His mother wasn’t surprised. ”

It’s always been kind of an, ‘It’ll be okay,’ attitude,” she said. “I don’t know where it came from, but that’s who he’s always been.”

That outlook became one of Tristan’s greatest strengths. When Tristan’s care was transferred to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, doctors identified genetic mutations that made a stem cell transplant his best chance for a cure. They also found what every family hopes for but few receive: a perfect 10-out-of-10 donor match.

The timing forced a very difficult decision.

His transplant was scheduled just days before high school graduation. Delaying treatment would have allowed him to walk across the stage with his classmates, but it also would have increased the risk that the leukemia could return.

“I chose not to postpone it,” Tristan said. “The risks were too much.”

Instead, he checked into Riley Hospital and began intensive chemotherapy, followed by a stem cell transplant. The stem cell infusion lasted nearly ten hours, requiring two nursing shifts to complete. Tristan spent several weeks in the hospital as doctors monitored him closely.

The results were remarkable. Tristan reached “100 percent donor”, meaning his blood producing system had been completely replaced by his donor’s healthy cells. Amazingly, it occurred much quicker than doctors expected.

Even after being discharged, Tristan was required to stay close to the hospital for at least two months of frequent appointments and continued monitoring. Because his immune system was still recovering, he couldn’t stay just anywhere.

That’s when a social worker referred them to Fair Haven. “We didn’t know something like this even existed,” Abbe said. Located just one mile from Riley Hospital, the private Fair Haven apartment offered exactly what they needed: a safe and quiet, secluded place to heal.

Tristan’s positive outlook has helped to keep him moving forward through the many challenges that he’s faced. Despite spending most of his senior year in hospitals far from home, Tristan completed his high school coursework online and graduated with Academic Honors. His plans for the future include attending the University of Evansville to study music performance.

Tristan continues to focus less on what he has lost and more on what is ahead.

“Ever since the start, I was just like, ‘What’s next? Let’s go.'”

“When you have something like this happen in your life, you don’t have a clue what goes into it,” Abbe said, looking back on their experience. “You don’t think about travel. You don’t think about housing. And so this apartment has been remarkable…I can’t thank you enough!”