Feeling really special and loved

Daniel Bachkhaz is in the fight of his life.

Since being diagnosed with cancer two years ago at age 11, he and his family have experienced a series of ups and downs that have tested their resolve and brought them and their community closer together.

“My family has been very supportive,” he said. “I wouldn’t have gotten through this without them, and the community has made me feel really special and loved.”

Daniel’s ordeal began in October 2022, when he began to feel pain in his right leg.

After the leg swelled up, his mother, Laura, decided to take him to the emergency room.

“I thought it was an injury from football, but it turned out that he had a tumor and it was Ewing Sarcoma,” she said. “He had a year of chemotherapy and eight surgeries. He finished his round of chemo in September 2023, and shortly after, scans revealed he was cancer-free.”

During his treatment, Daniel lost his hair.

“It was the worst part of the whole thing,” he said.

Then came January 2024. Another cancerous tumor had grown in the same spot as the first. The tumor was removed, followed by a month and a half of radiation.

“Now, fast forward to this month,” Laura Bachkhaz said. “He was supposed to have another full-body scan, but a few weeks ago, he began experiencing back pain. So we took him for scans at Sloan Kettering ahead of schedule, and they found a tumor on his spine. Had we waited any longer, the tumor could have fully compressed his spine and he would have been paralyzed.”

The tumor is too risky to remove because of its location, so Daniel underwent 10 days of radiation, including five days in the Intensive Care Unit.

Doctors said Daniel was lucky that he had not lost sensation.

For the foreseeable future, he will undergo scans every three months to monitor his condition.

As the family’s journey continues, it doesn’t get any easier.

“When we initially found out, it was a complete shock, and it still seems like we are in a nightmare we just can’t wake up from,” Laura Bachkhaz said.

“As a nurse, I always knew the cancer could come back. But the fact that it came back so soon was a shock. It has been rough. My husband and I take it day by day, and it’s a constant worry because we know this is life now and we live in fear but are proactive.

“We also have two girls. One is 2 and the other is 10. Our 10-year-old took it hard, especially when Daniel lost his hair. She would ask me, ‘Is Daniel going to die?’ So we lean on each other and the community, which has been amazing from day one.”

When Daniel first was diagnosed and going through chemotherapy, his fifth-grade teachers came to the house to teach him after school.

When he missed two weeks of seventh grade last month, his teachers caught him up.

“When he was first diagnosed, there was a GoFundMe set up for us, which has been restarted this time around,” his mother said.

“The Sparta Spartans football team has gone above and beyond, letting Daniel do the coin tosses, taking him to the locker room. The high school football team really rallied around him with donations and gifts, as did teams in the surrounding towns.”

Others in the community who have stepped up include but are not limited to:

• Custom Crafts by JDesigns made custom Daniel Strong sweatshirts and started a fundraiser.
• Apollo Barbershop (Daniel’s barbershop) encouraged Sparta football players to come in for hair cuts, with proceeds going to Daniel.
• Perfect Pointe Performing Arts set up a fundraiser for Daniel.
• Pizza One had a dine-to-donate fundraiser for Daniel.
• Titan Elite set up a fundraiser for Daniel.
• Laura Bachkhaz’s sister-in-law held a fundraising bake sale for Daniel.
• Many towns had “yellow outs” for Daniel and sent him gifts, let him come on their fields and do the coin tosses and presented checks to him.

As amazing as that support has been, the best part of the unfortunate ordeal may have come from Missouri.

A fan of Patrick Mahomes and the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs, Daniel received a care package from the team as well as a video from Mahomes.

“It was crazy,” he said about hearing from the Chiefs. “I was so surprised and happy. I love how Patrick and Travis (Kelce) work together to win the games. I like the way Andy Reid coaches, and I think Patrick is just a really good guy and player.”

Mark Pryce was Daniel’s football coach when he first was diagnosed two years ago.

“Daniel is a seventh-grader, so I was his football coach in fifth grade when this all happened,” Pryce said. “I said to him, ‘When you come out of this, you are going to be able to handle whatever comes at you in life easier than the other kids on the team because they are not dealing with this.’

“Even with this latest bit of horrible news, Daniel continues to impress us with his attitude.”

How does the 13-year-old do it?

“I love playing video games with my friends,” he said. “It distracts me from what’s going on. I love hanging out with my family and going fun places together.”

His message to others who find themselves diagnosed with cancer is clear. “I would tell them: ‘You got this. Don’t give up.’ ”