SAN ANTONIO — With the help of a Non-profit, one San Antonio mom is hoping to give her son the chance for a few days to not think about having cancer.
7-year-old Paxton Idell can be a bit of a handful, but his Mother Amanda says it's the quiet moments that worry her.
"It's actually how I knew he needed blood or platelet transfusions, because he wouldn't be quite like this," said Amanda Idell.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The disease impacts over fifteen thousand children a year in the U.S. alone.
Paxton was first diagnosed with brain cancer in April 2021 at the age of five. After radiation treatment and chemotherapy, Amanda said his doctors were optimistic.
"After he had treatment. I mean, he spent a whole year of no evidence of disease," she said.
Two years later, almost to the day, the cancer returned in a different form.
“It completely devastated me,” Amanda said. “It was just I mean, how do I keep my kid alive?"
Today, Paxton is in hospice care, but they still travel to St Jude’s Children's Research Hospital in Memphis Tennessee every two weeks, for treatment.
"A relapse of this cancer is not good, and so now it's like: how do I have him experience as much as I can in a short amount of time?" Amanda said. "I have no idea how long."
Campaign One At a Time is raising money for Paxton and his family to take a trip to Disney World and Give Kids the World Village, a Central Florida resort tailored to children with Critical Illnesses.
Amanda said her wish is to give Paxton good memories outside of a hospital.
"Just the chance for him to be a kid,” Amanda said. “Just to try to forget about, that he has cancer."