Hayden
“Warrior Hayden”
This 8 year old Santa Cruz native is an active young man with the heart of a lion! Hayden plays soccer, baseball and loves to surf and skateboard. A student in the second grade at Mountain Elementary, Hayden is beloved by his friends, classmates and school faculty. He’s a great student who is excelling and leading his class. He has a great attitude and outlook on life and makes many friends because of his cheerful personality. He has always been an exceptional child and outstanding son to his mother and father, and everyone else for that matter.
Hayden is a big brother of 3 year old Garrett. Garrett is a ball of energy, growing bigger everyday and developing at a rapid pace trying to keep up with his big brother all the time. He’s a talker, question asker and real lovable little guy…an amazing conversationalist for a 3 year old. Garrett also loves the beach, riding any wheeled object and playing soccer with Hayden.
Back in November 2014 while rough housing one evening, a small growth was discovered on the inside of Hayden’s cheek. We took the correct steps to get him into a specialist who removed the growth and stitched up his cheek. Shortly after, Hayden was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, and has been receiving weekly chemo. He recently completed a month of daily radiation treatments and will continue chemotherapy for a total of 42 weeks.
Hayden has shown great courage and continues to live each day outside the hospital as if his life is normal. We as a family continue to live life day by day and roll with whatever issues may arise on an hourly basis. We’ve had an outpouring of support from family and friends since we’ve begun this mission, and will continue to need support both emotionally and financially through this process…it cannot be done alone.
Our faith in the lord, his healing hands and his faithfulness have brought us through this far and we continue to trust and pray we will all come through this together. To follow Hayden’s story, visit www.facebook.com/hopeforhaydenjilka/