Ashton’s BMT Journey- Ashton’s Avengers

06/09/2026

Please Share!!
Hi! I just want to write an appreciation post for everyone who has reached out, sent us items, kept us in your thoughts & prayers, or donated to us. It’s made all of this just that much better while we are going through the hardest time in our life.

With that being said, I am sharing the go fund me link, as we’ve had to travel many times back and forth from Michigan & Minnesota which is incredibly expensive, along with his secondary insurance. His appetite slowly coming back, but only wanting specific things from places out. Along with all the co pays we need to pay up front for his medication. I know it’s a tough time for everyone right now, but even if you could just share that’d be so helpful. Thank you!! 😄😇

Some have asked about mail here, if you want to send anything the address is:
Ali Clark
621 SE Oak st
Minneapolis, MN, 55414

Four-year-old Ashton Christopher was diagnosed with Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) a… Kasey Hamlet needs your support for Support Ashton’s Fight Against ALD

06/06/2026

ASHY WAS DISCHARGED!! Well on May 12th…so it’s been a while. I’ve been super busy trying to get everything moved into Ronald, put away, and take him to his many appointments. In the beginning we were going to clinic every day & trying to build a new routine. Besides that, all has been looking awesome with him. I’m so thankful that there isn’t much to report in the last 3 weeks. They say his numbers look great, and I was told that his transplant was truly “best case scenario”, that no major complications came up, he engrafted very early, and handled everything very well. For now, he still has appts 2-3 days a week, along with starting some PT, OT, and speech. Carter is staying with us too, which is sooo exciting because we missed him so much.

Again, so sorry this update came far too late. Any down time we have, we spend outside. Excuse my look in this picture, if I knew I needed to lift him for the bell, I’d make myself a bit more presentable 🤦🏽‍♀️

His brain scan did show some progression…but I’m going to be making a separate post on that after another brain MRI next week.

05/08/2026

Update on Ashy:
(Sorry for long post, haven’t updated in awhile)

Day +24 (May 4th)…poor baby is/has been over this hospital setting for a while but much more than before. Of course the goal is always discharge, but once it hits this point…there’s not much that helps besides going home or for now Ronald. To be discharged the goal was to wean his IV pain meds, and get all meds switched to oral. Sounds much easier said than done when talking about a 4 year old, and with the amount of medications he needs a day...persuasion isn’t an option. Especially because he doesn’t fully understand why one day he was home, and the next he was isolated in the hospital for 6 weeks. He knows he has a “boo boo” in his head, but it doesn’t make it any easier for him while he’s watching his brother at home, playing outside, with friends, and he’s not able to. He’d do anything to be home to say the least.

A few weeks back he got 2 NG tubes placed in one day, and after puking up the second one, they held off for weeks. April 28th he had an NJ tube instead- instead of the tube just sitting in his belly, it goes further down into his intestine & is much harder to throw up (or so I was told). The hope was discharge for a week after- May 5th. Unfortunately the tube only lasted 3 days, and on May 1st, he puked up the NJ.

Day +28 (Thursday May 7th)- he had his one month brain MRI. The scan unfortunately showed that it has progressed a bit further, but the enhancement (area that lights up with contrast which show’s inflammation) has decreased in the middle of his brain, which is the area that was found in January. Reading that it has progressed, is absolutely terrifying because the hope is that it was caught early enough to where Ashton will not have symptoms. I was told that his primary BMT doctor who is the ALD specialist looked at the scan and said that almost everyone has some progression the first month scan, but the enhancement slightly decreasing is awesome and what they were looking & hoping for. He said he read it as a normal one month post transplant scan.

Day +29 (May 8th today!)- since discharge was pushed back due to losing thr NJ tube, we chose to move forward with a G tube instead. Since this needs to be something decently long term where he’d need it for 6+ months we needed something that he wasn’t going to easily throw up. Definitely scary since it’s a surgery and he’s immunocompromised and healing can be delayed and he’s at much higher risk of infection. He got it this morning, and he did great for the procedure. He has been in quite a bit of pain since waking up, so we are just trying to get that under control…but in 6 hours the tube is good to start using to put meds through and start feeds slowly. He’s been getting his feeds through his central line still (TPN), but the goal is to transition it fully to his g tube, but it’ll take time. The new goal for discharge is on Tuesday, May 12th! His blood pressure has been quite high though, and he’s been needing a lot of meds (sometimes every hour) to control it. They are hoping the oral meds will keep it steady longer since they are long acting.

04/21/2026

Day +12 HE’S ENGRAFTED!!🎉💙 This is a big & exciting day, the donor cells are making new blood cells and rebuilding his immune system. I couldn’t be happier! That means he was also able to leave his hospital room for the first time in 22 days and was so excited to walk the halls.

04/21/2026

My sweet boys hair was falling out like crazy & so itchy…so we shaved his head tonight 😍 He loves it!!

04/19/2026

Update!! Thankfully the last week or so was pretty uneventful. He mainly just had a lot of belly pain, and nausea but thankfully the vomiting has ended.

Day +8 (on Friday) was rough. The mucositis in his throat came on so strong overnight and he was miserable in pain and couldn’t sleep through it. They increased his pain meds 4 times alone throughout Friday, and upped his Precedex (helps with agitation). He slept half the day Friday which was very much needed, and once they finally caught up to the pain he was comfortable for the rest of the day.

Day +10 (Sunday) is today! He’s needed platelet transfusions every night which is common. But thankfully his counts are just starting to come in which is a great sign & shows that he’s heading in the right direction, but still a bit to go. He is still comfortable pain wise. Im finding his hair everywhere now, so it’s starting to fall out, but I’m surprised it lasted this long! He’s still wanting to eat a little bit which is good. He is still on TPN to support his nutrition fully, but whatever he wants to eat…he gets! Even if it’s ice cream at 3am🤩

04/15/2026

Some people have asked about an Amazon wish list while Ashys in the hospital! I appreciate everyone who has helped in any way. To ensure it goes to the right address, the address for delivery is:
621 Oak St SE
Minneapolis, MN, 55414

Hi! Take a look at this List I created on Amazon.

04/11/2026

Day 0 (4/9) Pictures from yesterday when Ashton was receiving the donor stem cells! Such an exciting day!

Day +1 (4/10) Unfortunately today was one of the hardest days so far. He was extremely uncomfortable and hurting a lot. They think the mucositis is starting, so they have started him on Morphine every 3 hours, and are moving to a morphine drip tomorrow. It’s so tough to see my baby feel like this. He’s one tough dude, but I am praying these next couple weeks they can make him as comfortable as possible with the pain meds and nausea. They were talking about trying to put in another NG tube tomorrow, but if he seems too uncomfortable then they will be holding off for awhile to make sure there’s no bleeding or pain caused from it being placed again. He’s finally able to get some rest with the pain meds on board, so hopefully my love will get a good nights sleep tonight. It’s a high priority to them, to make sure that he’s comfortable so it makes me feel better knowing he hopefully won’t have to suffer through this.

04/09/2026

TRANSPLANT DAY!!!🎉🥳

04/08/2026

Sorry for late update!!

Day -9 (Tuesday 3/31) Admission day! The first day Ashton was given an immunosuppressant called Rituximab. He got just about every side effect, the chills, a fever, a cough, his BP was low, his oxygen dropped, he needed a breathing treatment, and his heart rate went sky high. They had to pause the infusion to control his symptoms and thankfully they got everything under control and him to a more comfortable place & he finished the infusion.

Day -8 (Wednesday 4/1)He got ATG for the next few days. I was honestly expecting a lot worse, they warned this immunosuppressant usually causes very high fevers and just feeling unwell overall. Surprisingly he only got a low grade fever and he was feeling okay. He was given high doses of steroids so he became incredibly emotional, but I’ll take that any day over the bad side effects from the meds.

Day -5 (Saturday 4/4) He started the real chemo on Friday and he woke up Saturday incredibly nauseous and vomiting. He’s been given Benadryl and Ativan to help his nausea which has helped somewhat but hasn’t taken it away.

Day -2 (Monday 4/6) The vomiting has continued, along with diarrhea. His line has also became loose multiple times and he’s bled all over and needed lines changed. He’s also continued to bleed slightly from his central line and required more frequent dressing changes. It could just be from the line slightly tugging as he’s moving around. At this point he hasn’t eaten much in days. His nausea and vomiting became pretty bad from the chemo and so he hasn’t wanted to eat because of it. They suggested an NG tube so they can start supplementing his nutrition and give meds that way. He got the NG tube placed, and handled it like a champ! But unfortunately it came out shortly after. He had to get another NG tube placed, and that one stayed in well until the night. He started vomiting incredibly bad & the tube came right out of his mouth 🤦🏽‍♀️ So they pulled it. They decided for the time being we are pausing on the NG tube until we can get his nausea and vomiting under control. They changed the Ativan to scheduled every 6 hours instead of as needed. They started TPN instead, which is also a way for him to get nutrition but through his central line, so he is still getting everything he needs. The reason they wanted the NG tube is to keep his digestive system working throughout this process. They said mucositis is likely gonna be within the next week or so, which is sores that can show up anywhere from his mouth to his butt (so down throat, in belly, etc). It’s incredibly painful and will require a morphine drip when it hits. We are hoping the NG tube can be placed again within the next couple days because once mucositis shows up, they won’t place the tube because it can hurt them and also cause bleeding.

He’s struggling with being here, cries often about wanting to go home. It breaks my heart that this is our reality and I would do anything to take it away from him. He’s so brave and strong and handling it so well for his age. I’ve been told so many times that they are so impressed he is doing as good as he is for being 4!

THURSDAY IS TRANSPLANT DAY!! It’s the day he will be receiving the donor cells. His second birthday and a day we will be celebrating forever since it’s his second chance at life!!! I’m so proud of him and how he’s doing through this all. We are getting settled and into the routine of things more, so I promise I’ll be updating every couple days instead!!