Levi's Legion

08/30/2026

August 30, 2026

ONE WEEK!

There's one week until Levi's "Meat Party" bash and he wakes up every morning asking if today is the day 🤣. He is so excited to party it up with everyone and so are we! Join us anytime starting at 4 pm - it's open house style and will go as late as people want to hang out!

So far the weather is looking good so we plan to have the pool open (with certified lifeguards AND I'll make sure the heater is on 🤪), yard games and of course all the BBQ Levi has missed out on!

Please don't feel like you shouldn't attend - if you have prayed for us or helped us out in ANY way over the last three years, PLEASE know that you are invited. We are so grateful for how our people have loved and cared for us over the last three years and we want to be able to thank you and feed you - it's really the least we can do ❤️

So get ready! One week until we feast and party! Will you be there?!? 🙌

08/22/2026

August 22, 2026

Two weeks until the "Meat Party!" 🤣🙈. Are you coming? Please let us know - we would love for you to join us!

This weekend ends the first full week of MIDDLE SCHOOL for Levi- I'm not quite sure where time went! He was so excited to go and so far has loved it, especially science and STEM class (science is his favorite subject). Our school district is incredible and is doing a really cool hybrid setup for Levi that's custom just to him that we are all really excited about. We are so grateful for our school!

Graham also started first grade and is loving it. He's incredibly social, just like Levi 🤣, and thrives around people. He really missed school over the summer and was bouncing off the walls excited to go back even though we had a fun summer.

I'll have to make a separate post about summer because Levi got to do a lot of things that he LOVES but missed out on during treatment like swimming in the ocean and Torch Lake. It was so beautiful to see him one with the water again just being a kid. He fought hard to be here and I'm so grateful he's back to doing the things he loves ❤️

But back to his party- please let us know! We have tents rented, lifeguards lining up for the pool and big plans for all the meat! Levi is so excited and is telling everyone about it 🤣

And yes, Graham's back to school sign DOES say one of his favorite things is Big Mouth Billy Bass. Yes, that IS the weird singing fish plaque that was a fad 20+ years ago. No, we don't have one but he recently discovered these were a thing and is obsessed. I love my weird kids🙈🤣

08/16/2026

August 16, 2026

Twas the night before the first day of school (or “School Eve” as Graham is calling it) and its time for my annual Back to School PSA: Be Kind.

There’s this funny thing about kindness, it costs you absolutely nothing but it can 100% change someone else’s day and I’m willing to bet that no one has ever felt bad about themselves for being kind. I really see no downside to being kind. It honestly just makes sense.

Kindness doesn’t always feel “cool” in the moment and sometimes it just feels easier to ignore someone or worse be rude or cruel. It’s important that we CHOOSE kindness to those around us so we model it for our kids. Kids are watching us, even in this day in age when they’re glued to their screens. They still see us. They see the way to talk to them and other people and it’s shaping how they treat others. Be a good person.

It’s important to talk to our kids about treating others with kindness, even those who feel hard to be kind to. Teach them that even a smile and hello go a long way for the person that feels invisible. Teach them that every person is a human and deserves to be treated as such. Teach them that we are all the same despite what we make think are differences – we all want to be seen and known.

I get it, some days it’s hard – I KNOW hard, I’ve been there (still there? TBD). We’re all going through our own things but kindness should still be non-negotiable. It’s completely free and might even turn your day around too. Even if it doesn’t, ya know who is going to appreciate it? The person you showed kindness to. So as we start a new school year, let’s remember to be kind and teach our kids to do the same. Smile and say hi to the kid that doesn’t have many friends in the hallway. Invite someone that normally eats lunch alone to sit with you. Hold the door open for someone. You never know what those little things will do to make someone feel seen. And everyone wants to be seen.

Be kind. You’ve got this.

07/23/2026

July 22, 2026

Look who made it to the FRONT PAGE of the Akron Beacon Journal today! We are so thankful for ABJ and Lauren Cohen continuing to share Levi's story of bravery, hope, advocacy, and inclusion.

We are so grateful for this summer of just being a kid and it's not lost on us how fortunate we are as many kids don't get that chance again. We will never stop talking about childhood cancer and the importance of continuing to do better for our children.

Stay tuned for some more pictures of Levi doing regular 12 year old boy things over the next few weeks ❤️

One day at a time.

Since completing treatment for leukemia in March, Levi Buxman is learning how to be a kid again — and advocating on Capitol Hill while he’s at it.

07/04/2026

July 4, 2026

Happy birthday, USA!

Last year, the littles and their cousins ran a kids firecracker race at the crack of dawn on July 4th and loved it. Levi and I cheered from the sidelines because even though he was much healthier than the previous 4th of July (that he was hospitalized for), he was still taking daily chemo and was VERY sensitive to the heat.

Fast forward to this year, the littles and cousins wanted to sign up again, each VERY confident they were going to win the whole thing 🤣. I was pretty sure I knew Levi's answer but asked him anyway if he wanted to run to which he replied "uh, NO." I mean, kid comes by it honestly - Mama ALSO hates running. And running first thing in the morning in a sauna? Hard pass. Well, joke's on me...

Last night at 10 pm as he was crawling into bed, Levi started talking about how excited he was to run the race in the morning. Uh, I beg your finest pardon, sir? I figured in the morning he'd get there and be all like, nah, I'm good but that....was not the case. He was so excited saying that his shoes make him fast and will blow smoke as he runs. Fantastic 😬. I quick registered him and we hit the starting line.

Was I prepared to do anything at this race but meet kids at the finish line? Nope. Was I wearing CHACOS, a skort, a hair claw and regular undergarments (IYKYK 🙈)? Yes. But away went went and thankfully my MIL took over halfway through because I assumed I would be dragging him at a walking pace through the race but that sweet boy actually jogged the entire race! People were cheering him on so he was definitely slowed by waving to everyone on the sidelines in what was clearly a parade for him but he just kept trucking along. I was fighting back tears and just wanted to tell everyone that not only was this a kid with DS that they were cheering for but that he had also just beat cancer 😭😭😭. (Am I trying not to cry while typing this? Probably.)

It's been a long few years but seeing him be a kid again helps heal me a little bit at a time. I'll never be the same, but I have hope that he will be - he is resilient and brave and out there doing big things ❤️

One day at a time.

06/06/2026

June 5, 2026...part 2!

In case you missed it, here's the piece that Lindsay Buckingham did on our experience in Washington DC this week! As always, she did an amazing job and somehow captured everything we talked about in a 30 minute interview into a wonderful piece. There's also a written article on this page below the video clip. Lindsay was once again wonderful to work with we are so thankful for her taking the time to talk with us again today and for helping share Levi's story!

Now...we sleep 😴😴😴

A Wooster boy who beat cancer spent this week in Washington, D.C., advocating for pediatric medicine and Medicaid — and made a few friends along the way.

06/05/2026

June 5, 2026

Next stop: Ohio!

We are wrapping up our first CHA Family Day experience and heading for home shortly!

We started our day with an interview with our favorite newswoman, Lindsay Buckingham, via Zoom to talk about what we've been down here doing the last few days alongside our new friend, Michael, who is part of the Government Affairs team at Akron Children's and the one who invited us this week. You can see our story air TODAY at 4 and 5 on WKYC Channel 3 - Cleveland.

One thing I didn't realize before this week is that there is a serious shortage of physcians going into pediatric medicine. The pay is lower and with medical school costs being so high, it can be a tough pill to swallow. Pediatric medicine is so incredibly important for so many reasons and it's important that it continues to exist.

After our interview, we had just a couple hours to kill so we made a quick jaunt to the Air and Space Museum. It was recently remodeled and is absolutely beautiful! The jam-packed days are catching up with Levi and as he says "my tiny legs are TIRED!" so it was just a quick blitz around a few main exhibita before heading back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the airport.

We cannot say thank you enough to Michael and Katie from Akron Children's for inviting us along and giving us this amazing opportunity. We are so grateful and had an amazing time! Levi is doing big things!

06/05/2026

June 4, 2026

The Buxmans took on Capitol Hill (and it's extensive tunnel system 🤣). We had a VERY jam packed day today meeting Congressmen Max Miller and Michael Rulli, Congresswoman Emilia Sykes and Senator Jon Husted as well as sitting in the Senate gallery before heading back to the hotel to party it up with the other families from across the nation and FINALLY let Levi take a dip in the pool. Priorities 🙈

Again, we are so honored and privileged to have this opportunity to share not only our story but the story of other kids we've met along the way. Levi also made sure to tell everyone about his bestie, Love Like Liam, and was all to willing to share about his love for Michael Jackson evening going so far as to moonwalk for Senator Husted 🤣. Seriously, I think we need to start a wall of fame in our house for all the famous people he has moonwalked for because not only have we done it for the news, but he's also done it for . Oh Levi, I wish I were as confident as him 🙈. In all seriousness, he did an amazing job today hanging in there and doing a LOT of walking. He's such a great kid.

Tomorrow we have an interview with Lindsay Buckingham at WKYC and then possibly seeing a few more sights before heading back to Ohio. I'm debating I whether I want to see the rollercoaster, err I mean the WWE stadium/White House situation, or if we should hit the Air and Space Museum. We will see how everyone is feeling in the morning. Levi is currently swimming with God only knows what energy he has left then it's off to bed for these new lobbyists. Hopefully I don't fall asleep poolside...it's very warm in here 🙈🤣

06/04/2026

June 3, 2026

We made it to DC this morning for the Children's Hospital Association Family Advocacy event! Levi has been bouncing-off-the-walls excited since his head popped off the pillow this morning and is having a great time!

We had some time to kill between arriving and our first event this evening so we decided to hit Levi's one tourist bucket list item: The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. He loves science (he actually passed his modified state exam this year 🤷‍♀️) and also love the movie, The Night at the Museum, so he wanted to see three things- the "dum dum gimme gum gum" statue, mummies and Dexter the capuchin monkey 🤣. We were able to make all his movie dreams come true minus the museum actually coming to life 🤣.

We then made our way back to the hotel for some quick rest before heading to the kickoff dinner for the event which was incredibly nice. CHA created trading cards for each of the patient advocates so we got to meet some if the other kids here and trade cards. Tomorrow we start bright and early at 7:30 for group pictures before heading out to a day of meetings on The Hill then back to the hotel in the evening for a huge party complete with a DJ that Levi is VERY excited about. Betcha can't guess what song he plans to request 🤪

We are so incredibly honored to be here representing Akron Children's alongside so many of other brave families from across the country. We will all be taking Capitol Hill by storm tomorrow to advocate for children's hospitals and Medicaid for children as well as share our story. We may even be interviewed by WKYC again Friday morning about it all 😉.

Stay tuned for more!

Pictures include Levi's trading cards and his museum bucket list plus a few others 🙂

06/02/2026

June 2, 2026

Tomorrow, Levi takes on Washington DC to meet with senators and representatives to advocate for pediatric medicine and Medicaid for children - two things we happen to have a LOT of experience with! We are so honored to be attending with Akron Children's and to be able to tell Levi's story on an even bigger stage! Never in a million years did I expect in 2026 that Levi would go viral, be on national news and lobby on Capitol Hill 😳. What a wild ride!

I also realized that since his med port came out a few weeks ago, I've been quiet. May was pretty chaotic for us as we navigated sudden unemployment with Spirit liquidating and trying to scramble to get health care for everyone and Branden preparing for the job market. The airline industry isn't the quickest at hiring and honestly, we would be lucky if he's flying by the end of the year. He has applications in but there are multiple rounds of applications and testing to even get to the actual interview so he's working through that currently. He keeps reminding me of our mantra, "one day at a time."

On the Levi front, he's doing great. His med port procedure went as planned and his sinus wash went well with no other surgeries needed there which is an answer to prayer. We signed a waiver to be able to keep "Bob" the medport, so Levi has been VERY excited to tote him around in a specimen cup and show him to anyone who might be interested. Bob also DEFINITELY went to school. Sorry, teachers! 🙈

Levi also graduated from Elementary School and we attended his awards ceremony which he did a really good job at sitting through without an adult next to him. He truly has some of the best classmates that waited for him to make sure he got back to his seat and reminded him what to do. He also loved another clap out for the 5th grade class and since he brought up the year, the whole school chanted just for him which he if course loved. He's actually really excited to go to middle school and our district has come up with an amazing plan to set him up for the most success next year that we are all really excited about!

On Sunday, Levi got to attend his first youth group at church and man, I think that was the craziest of all for me. He's always been on the shorter side thanks to that extra chromosome but man, he looks so tiny hanging out with the middle and high schoolers 😭. He absolutely LOVED youth group and is so excited to go back on Sundays. Lots of friends from school came up to him and found him plus he introduced himself to a bunch of kids too. It's so nice seeing him be a kid again although where did time go?!? I'm definitely not old enough to have a middle schooler, right? RIGHT?!?! (*cries in 39 yo...*).

I think that's it for the moment. The littles are currently happily hanging with Grammy and Bop for the next few days and ready for their own adventures - I doubt they'll miss us too much. The littles really are "best buddies" as Boyd says so as long as they're together, they're typically happy...well except sometimes Boyd IS a little brother and Graham gets annoyed or bossy 🤣. I'll have to eventually make a post just about them because they are at such fun ages right now. Boyd just finished his first year of preschool and was definitely the kid on stage with the funny antics at his graduation program 🙈🤣. He's got a very dry, witty sense of humor and an insane vocabulary to go with it. Graham just finished kindergarten and LOVED it. He can't wait to go back to school already. He made so many friends and really came out of his shell. He's incredibly smart and outgoing and also has a funny sense of humor. He's really fun to talk to right now because he has a lot of great thoughts and questions.

I should go finish packing but I'll be sure to post throughout our trip over the next couple days!