At 9 years old, kids should be playing outside with their friends, being active and playing sports, or doing what they love. Not home, sick due to chemotherapy treatments, like Ayden Zeigler-Kohler.
At 9 years old, Ayden was constantly moving, playing any sport he loved such as football, basketball, even wrestling. And then everything changed in an instant.
In the middle of a football practice back in August, he suddenly collapsed, no warning whatsoever. At the hospital, his dad, Bill Kohler, was told it was a concussion, but it didn’t seem right. Ayden kept getting worse, and was even beginning to lose his motor and verbal skills. After being taken back to the hospital, they found something no parent wants to hear. They found tumors.
Ayden has two of them, the one is located in his cerebellum, and the other in his brain stem. This is called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, also known as DIPG. And this type of cancer, is not a forgiving one to say the least.
Doctors told Kohler that his son had 8-12 months to live, which now, was 7 months ago. The two have an inseparable bond. When Ayden’s father came back from Iraq before he was born, he was broken, and drank just to sleep, and once Ayden was born, everything changed. Kohler says, “He saved my life.”
Kohler had never given up fighting for his son, applying over and over again for clinical trials, but was denied every time. And after months of searching, he realized he was using up all of his time looking for a cure, he wasn’t spending enjoyable time with his son, and living life to its fullest together while they could.
Then everything changed, and they began to cram a lifetime of events into only a few months. Ayden has gotten the privilege of being a special guest at football and basketball games, and even got to go on an amazing fishing trip in Florida. And this past winter, Ayden even was able to shoot his first buck.
“It was a perfect shot. That was a proud dad moment right there,” commented Kohler.
According to Ayden and his father, being out in the woods are where they find moments of peace, and they try to hold on to those moments as long as they can.
We pray that a cure will be found as soon as possible for Ayden, so he can go on and continue his life. We hope he gets better, and continues to do all of the amazing things that he has already accomplished. Keep on fighting buddy!
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