'A Lot Of Love' For Boy, 12, Battling Stage 4 Brain Cancer

WESTMONT, IL — Just over a month ago, 12-year-old Alex Buczkowski's world was limitless. The incoming seventh-grader had just begun teaching himself French so he and his older brother Blake, 14, could abscond to Canada and become amethyst miners together. Then, an unexpected diagnosis of stage four brain cancer left Alex confined to a hospital room and unable to use the left side of his body, his father, Dan Buczkowski told Patch.

Dan said Alex began getting headaches before the school year started, but eventually found some relief with over-the-counter medicine. Three days after starting seventh grade, though, Alex started vomiting and sleeping a lot. Dan and his wife, Amalia Zamorano, took Alex to urgent care and a battery of tests came back negative.

After Alex's symptoms persisted, his parents took him to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Once again, the blood and urine tests performed on Alex didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Doctors were getting ready to send Alex home with anti-nausea medicine, Dan said, but when the 12-year-old stood up and nearly fainted and fell over, a physician ordered an MRI.

The MRI detected a glioblastoma the size of a clementine on the top left side of Alex's brain. He was transferred to Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, where surgery quickly followed to remove as much of the mass as possible.

"They can’t even get to all of it," Dan told Patch,“It’s just so sad.”

In a matter of weeks, Dan and Amalia went from chatting with Alex about what to expect in seventh grade to prepping to tell the 12-year-old about his condition. School has been "on pause" for Alex, but he's been using a tablet and phone to talk to his friends.

It was one of those friends who inadvertently told Alex he had cancer. “We weren’t ready to tell him everything," Dan said.

When the moment came to talk to Alex about his diagnosis, Dan held his son and cried with him as he asked, "Why is God taking my life from me? What did I do so early?"

Still,“I don’t think he understands the true gravity of this yet," Dan said.

In addition to trying to comprehend something as incomprehensible as why he got brain cancer, Alex is worrying about things any seventh grader might worry about, including what his classmates will think of changes to his physical appearance. Due to surgery, part of Alex's head dips in. He's also worried about losing his hair.

“No matter what, mommy and daddy are going to be there every step of the way with you," Dan reassured him.

“If he loses his hair, I’m going to shave my head," Dan told Patch.

In the meantime, Dan and Amalia are working to keep life as normal as possible for Alex and his siblings, Blake, Justin, 11, and Annabelle, 6.

Amalia had to take an unpaid leave of absence from work to spend time with Alex and will likely lose her job, Dan said. She and Dan take shifts driving between their home in Westmont to the hospital in Oak Lawn to be with Alex and their other children. They must also juggle getting their other kids back and forth to school and extracurricular activities.

“There's a lot to remember and do on top of meeting with the doctors every day," Dan told Patch.

Dan and Amalia are unable to stay over at the hospital and visitors must be 12 years old or older, so Justin and Annabelle can't visit, Dan said.

A GoFundMe has been started to help the Buczkowski family with expenses related to Alex's treatment and Amalia being out of work. As of Thursday, the GoFundMe had raised more than $48,000 of its $112,000 goal. Click the link to donate to the GoFundMe for Alex Buczkowski.

On Sept. 28, Alex underwent a second surgery that lasted about five hours, according to the GoFundMe. Doctors replaced part of his skull that had previously been removed and put in a new shunt to help manage fluid buildup and swelling on Alex's brain.

He'll likely be in the intensive care unit for a few more days, the update said.

“Right now he wants to come home and be around family," Dan said.

Once Alex gets home, he'll start chemotherapy and radiation before ultimately going back to the intensive care unit for a third surgery. Dan and Amalia have been working to get their home ready for Alex's return.

Alex will mostly stay on the first floor of the family's 1.5-story home, where he'll be in a hospital bed or a wheelchair much of the time, Dan said.

“We’re turning our dining room into a hospital room," Dan told Patch. With the help of the hospital, the family got a wheelchair for Alex and installed a ramp while they await his return home.

Dan is making one more modification to the Buczkowski home to show Alex how much he means to his friends, family and even strangers.

There's been "a lot of love," Dan said.

Cards, drawings, photographs and more will adorn an "inspiration wall" in Alex's room, a reminder of the exponential love and hope that exists for Dan and Amalia's "sweet little 12-year-old."

Click the link to donate to the GoFundMe for Alex Buczkowski.