PHOENIX — What started as a routine doctor’s appointment back in 2024 quickly became a desperate trip across the state to Phoenix Children’s hospital.
That's where this pre-teen, Luke, would begin an all-out fight for his life.
Yet somehow, in the middle of all that fear, Luke was able to find light.
“I don’t remember any of it,” Luke said.
His mom, Connor, says that could be exactly what has kept him going.
“He only remembers the good things,” she said.
All of it happened shortly after the family relocated to Kingman, Arizona.
“We just moved here from Kentucky. We decided to make an appointment with a primary care provider, who decided to draw labs, because you just need a baseline,” Connor said.
When the results came back, Connor was told to get Luke to Phoenix Children’s as soon as possible.
The nightmare started with a sentence no parent is ever prepared to hear: "Your child has cancer."
Fighting tears, she also tells ABC15 Morning's anchor Kaley O'Kelley, "He asked, 'What's cancer?!"
What Connor thought would be a quick trip to the Valley turned into weeks of testing, treatment, and watching her little boy fight for his life.
Phoenix Children’s moved quickly.
“We literally found his cancer on a Thursday, and they started treatment the very next day,” Connor said. “You didn’t wait, you didn’t have to go make an appointment, you didn’t have to see a specialist.”
She says Luke was able to achieve remission after the first four weeks of treatment.
As hard as those days were, Connor says there were also many moments of light.
“It is literally like you’re living in a hell,” she said. “But there’s just these pockets of sunshine.”
Connor says much of that hope came from the Child Life team. Volunteers and programs at Phoenix Children’s help Luke and other children keep being kids, even in the middle of cancer treatment.
ABC15's Telethon benefiting Phoenix Children’s is back for 2026! We hope you'll join us on Wednesday, April 15 and help to save the day for Phoenix Children’s patients! Phone lines are open from 6 a.m.-10:35 p.m. at 602-933-4567!
“Like you go to the playroom, and you see the volunteers and the child life specialists... playing with these kids,” she said.
Luke remembers some of those moments well.
“All the kids would do bingo, and I felt like an old person doing that,” he said. “I actually won a few times. I got blackout.”
Luke also tells O’Kelley that he learned how to do 1,000-piece LEGO sets in one day.
For his mom, those moments meant everything.
“They’re playing, they’re running, they’re literally thriving,” she said.
“Yes, they have no hair. Yes, they have tubes hooked up everywhere. Yes, they’re thin and pale, but they’re laughing. They’re still, they’re still children doing children things.”
The family says programs supported by donations make that possible.
“So the money that’s donated goes specifically to Child Life programs, to painting, to LEGOs, to the playroom.”
Now, about a year removed from treatment, Luke’s family is focused on sharing their story and helping other families facing childhood cancer know they are not alone.
“Every chance we get, we share Luke’s story,” Connor said.
And Luke knows exactly why sharing it is important.
“Because we can help some other kids,” he said.
