5-year-old Hendrix is an energetic, baseball-loving little man who has been fighting leukemia for the last 2.5 years.

In February 2023, at just 3 years old, Hendrix was given a shock diagnosis of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Treatment started immediately, and suddenly his days were filled with chemotherapy, hospital trips and specialist appointments. He bravely endured intensive treatment, and his family were looking forward to Hendrix finally transitioning to the maintenance phase at the end of that year – it was supposed to be the glorious finish line after a tough battle.

But before they had a chance to celebrate that transition, his cancer journey presented another unexpected hurdle. Hendrix suddenly developed severe diabetic ketoacidosis, which was initially believed to be steroid induced.

His mom rushed him to the hospital immediately on November 28th and after extensive testing, doctors diagnosed him with type 1 diabetes on December 13th, 2023.

This brave boy started and ended that year with significant, lifechanging diagnoses, but he remained so strong through it all. Hendrix began maintenance treatment as planned, with an insulin pump to help him manage his diabetes while staying in remission.

Earlier this year, he was due to begin his sixth round of maintenance when he faced another setback.

On January 7th, 2025, it was discovered that Hendrix had a rare early relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

It was straight back into frontline treatment for Hendrix, which kicked off on January 13th with 30 days of intensive reintroduction chemotherapy. Unfortunately, by February 10th, testing indicated that 20% of the cancer still remained in his body which fell short of the result his care team was aiming for.

A new treatment plan using CAR T-cell therapy was devised, and Hendrix began to receive bridging chemotherapy. Alarmingly, his cancer became even more aggressive and resistant to this treatment. The decision was made to switch to targeted immunotherapy with inotuzumab to get him prepared for his CAR T-cell infusion day.

Throughout all the ups and downs, Hendrix has continued to fight like hell and show the world just how strong and resilient he is.

On April 10th, Hendrix finally had the modified CAR T-cells infused into his bloodstream. There was so much hope riding on CAR T-cell therapy, so it was a complete shock when it failed. Hendrix is among the 10% of patients for whom it is ineffective – he went in with 0.036% cancer in his bone marrow and came out with 0.172%.

This was a devastating development for his loved ones to process, but his team quickly came up with a new treatment plan once again. Hendrix's team set course for a bone marrow transplant, now his best and only chance at beating this disease, and focused on getting him in remission first to set him up for transplant success. 

On the evening of June 30th, his family received the news that Hendrix was officially in remission!

He was declared minimal residual disease (MRD) negative, which meant that there was no sign of cancer in his body. 

The following week, on July 8th, his team began to prep him for a bone marrow transplant. He endured 3 days of twice daily full-body radiation under sedation, for 75 minutes each time. 

On July 14th, Hendrix then underwent a bone marrow transplant using his mom's donor cells. This little legend is currently inpatient at Sick Kids as they wait for his mom's cells to engraft in his body. His mom told us, "It's just the beginning of the new journey we are on!"

He also recently celebrated graduating kindergarten as a full-time student at Sick Kids school, which signified both a classroom achievement and a full year of bravely battling cancer at SickKids. In his mom’s words, “Between hospital rooms and treatment days, he still showed up with a smile, a curious mind, and a heart full of courage. This cap and gown mean more than we can say – proof that even in the hardest times, light shines through.”

Hendrix makes his family proud beyond words every single day – he is their real-life superhero.

We’re riding for you this August, Hendrix! You’re also a SUPERHERO to thousands of GCC riders!