(WJHL) — A Tri-Cities boy overcame a serious medical challenge with the help of his family and Make-A-Wish East Tennessee.
Kingston and Lincoln Baker are brothers and buddies. Their tight-knit family stayed together, even through a serious medical diagnosis.
“So Kingston was diagnosed when he was six, five years ago with AML leukemia,” his mom Katelyn said. “We had to go to St. Jude.”
Kingston received a bone marrow transplant and was at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for nine months. But Make-A-Wish provided an exciting reason to get through treatment and go home: a treehouse.
Katelyn says the Make-A-Wish staff was amazing and the tree house lived up to the hype.
“It’s been it’s just been so fun,” she said.
“Any time their friends come over, it’s just the place they go. It’s their hangout, it’s their fun spot. You know, the thing has electricity. It has a fan in it. It has lights, it has all the fun, cool things.”
Some cool things that made a tough medical road a bit easier.
“This came about at the end of everything I went through,” Kingston said. “I look out at that and…I earned that.”
Both Kingston and Katelyn say the wish wouldn’t be granted without the help of donors for both Make-A-Wish and bone marrow.
“Absolutely. Like, 100%, without a doubt,” Katelyn said. “Reach out, donate, obviously, because it helps kids like Kingston and like our family.”
Kingston says bone marrow donations “could save a life.”
“So I really think that that would be very positive if they did,” he said.
Kingston has recently celebrated his five-year milestone after his bone marrow transplant. Katelyn says the boys still use the tree house.
