Victory Project Honoree

Elias' story started with a presumed hamstring injury on a Monday after spending a weekend getting his soccer referee certification. During that week, he had some other bone/joint pain and an intermittent fever. Then, that Friday, he was seen at Children's Mercy, and they discovered that he had a large mass in his chest that was growing around the top part of his heart and that his white blood cell counts were very abnormal. He was admitted to the hospital for diagnostics. By Saturday morning, they had diagnosed him with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Overnight, his cancer cells had started to divide so rapidly that he was also diagnosed with tumor lysis syndrome, which can be life-threatening. By Saturday evening, he was starting chemotherapy. He responded amazingly well and was discharged home a week later.

In the last 2 years, he has been hospitalized 4 times for different reasons associated with his chemotherapy but has stayed positive through it all. His youth group has rallied around him and been with him through thick and thin. They have prayed, encouraged, and shown up at the house to spend time with him. The team at Children's Mercy has been incredible to work with, and the family is very thankful to them. Elias has several months of treatment left but is doing well and looking forward to finishing treatment, being cancer-free, and graduating from high school this year.

03.15.25 SKC vs Minnesota United FC Gameday Honoree

After Levi was struggling with swollen lymph nodes and a stuffy nose through February 2022, his parents brought him into his primary care physician's office. Chest x-rays and labs were done and came back clear, and they were told that he must be on the tail end of some virus and wait it out. Then, in March, his family traveled to Las Vegas for a family trip, and it was then Levi's parents noticed while he was sleeping that while he was sleeping, he would stop breathing in his sleep.

The family immediately called the doctor, and they were advised that potentially the infection was holding out in his tonsils and an appointment for an ENT was set up for the day they returned from their trip. It was at the ENT appointment that the doctor saw something no one else had. The family was sent directly over to the hospital with an order for a chest X-ray and labs. It was within the hour, we got the call to drive directly to Children's Hospital in Omaha, NE, that a 5.5-inch mass was showing on the X-ray that when Levi would lie down, the mass was compressing his airway.

Time stood still for weeks and months for the family when they got the news that the mass was indeed cancer, and there were multiple other "clusters" of cancerous lymphatic tissue throughout his abdomen. On 3/19/22, Levi was officially diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic Lymphoma, and a 2.5-year treatment plan to follow. But then, finally, on 7/4/24, Levi received his final chemo treatment and is currently getting back to living life like a typical 12-year-old boy, and his cancer is in Remission.

03.01.25 SKC vs San Jose Gameday Honoree

After returning home from his first official Division I recruiting trip for swimming in September 2024, Jack was excited about the academic and athletic experiences ahead of him. However, the following day, after a trip to the walk-in clinic at his pediatrician's office for lumps in his neck, he was hospitalized on the oncology floor at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City when imaging revealed an unknown mass on his thymus and multiple inflamed lymph nodes; during his inpatient stay, a biopsy and PET scan confirmed his diagnosis. Suddenly, instead of visiting other universities and finishing his college applications, Jack began undergoing eight rounds of chemotherapy treatments as he faced the biggest race of his life: beating Stage Il Hodgkin Lymphoma as a senior in high school.

Jack's resiliency has developed throughout his life, like when he turned to swimming competitively because he wanted to challenge himself in a new way in the sport. After never qualifying for the state swim meet the previous two years of high school, Jack did so in the first competition of his junior year. After never attending the state swim meet, he was the Kansas 6A State Breaststroke Champion in February 2024 and earned First Team All-State Honors. After swimming competitively for less than a year, he qualified for two national swim meets through USA Swimming. Jack was named a Scholastic All-American for his academic and swimming achievements last fall.

Throughout his chemotherapy treatments, Jack continues to swim, and he competed in his first high school swim meet since his cancer diagnosis in December; he won the 100-yard breaststroke and qualified for the

2025 Kansas State Swim Meet, where he plans to defend his state title. He recently earned the Kansas State High School Activities and Athletics Association's 2024 Spirit of Sport Award, bestowed on one person in each state every year, because of "his relentless pursuit of making a difference for kids with Cancer."

02.18.25 SKC vs Inter Miami CF Gameday Honoree

Eva was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) in April 2023, and she needed a bone marrow transplant. Gratefully, one out of her three sisters was a perfect match to be her donor. She received her transplant on July 5, 2023. The family was at Children's Mercy Hospital for 55 days. The whole experience was very difficult for their family but lucky now Eva is doing amazing and able to be back at school with all of her friends again.