Jaxson Kress was just 3 years old when his family first noticed something was wrong. The Webb City, Missouri boy was taken to a doctor after feeling unwell on New Year's Eve 2018, and blood tests revealed abnormalities that required immediate specialized care. He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and within days he was transferred from southwest Missouri to Children's Mercy in Kansas City.
That transfer, coordinated by the hospital's critical care transport team, marked the start of what would become an eight-year battle. As reported by KCTV, Jaxson's father Jeffrey described the shock of the diagnosis simply: “It was children's cancer. It's something that nobody's really prepared for.” Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, develops when an acquired genetic change causes immature white blood cells to multiply uncontrollably in the bone marrow, crowding out healthy blood cells the body needs.
A Disease That Keeps Coming Back
ALL is the most common form of childhood leukemia, according to the same KCTV report, and cure rates for many children with the disease exceed 90 percent. Nationally, ALL accounts for roughly 30 percent of all pediatric cancer diagnoses, with about 3,000 cases annually among children and youth up to age 21, per the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. But between 10 and 15 percent of pediatric ALL patients relapse, a group that faces a much harder road requiring specialized second-line therapies, the hospital notes in its research on relapsed and refractory ALL.
Jaxson fell into that harder category — more than once. At Children's Mercy, he was paired with a primary oncologist, nurse practitioner, and social worker, supported by a broader care team of child life specialists, pharmacists, and nurses. He completed the standard three-year treatment protocol for ALL, finishing therapy in December 2021. About eight months later, in 2022, his leukemia returned, and he subsequently completed another two years of treatment.
CAR T-Cells, a Sister's Bone Marrow, and Three More Relapses
What followed was a grueling sequence of advanced interventions. Jaxson's treatment expanded to include chemotherapy, targeted immunotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy, and blinatumomab immunotherapy, and he took part in cancer research opportunities along the way. Clinical research published in Frontiers in Pediatrics explains why: while CAR T-cell therapy can bridge relapsed patients back to remission, allogeneic stem cell transplantation remains essential for long-term survival when the disease returns in the bone marrow.
Jaxson experienced three leukemia relapses in total, according to KCTV's report, and blinatumomab helped return him to remission before his third relapse. That relapse led doctors to a bone marrow transplant, with his 21-year-old sister serving as a 50 percent match and the best available donor. The transplant aimed to replace his diseased bone marrow with her healthy donor stem cells, delivered like a blood transfusion, after Jaxson underwent intensive conditioning therapy involving chemotherapy and radiation.
Keeping Spirits Up Through the Hardest Stretch
Even during that grueling recovery, Jaxson found ways to stay himself. His father brought baseball card packs to motivate him during recovery, and Jaxson challenged Dr. Lauren Wilson to video games during the transplant process. Three weeks later, the transplant successfully engrafted, and Jaxson has remained in remission since.
The transplant capped a pattern Jaxson had leaned on for years: using sports and community connections as a coping strategy. Back in November 2023, while still undergoing treatment at Children's Mercy, 8-year-old Jaxson visited the Sporting Kansas City soccer team to hand out custom encouraging wrist bracelets, according to KCTV-TV. In 2024, he was identified as one of six primary pediatric cancer honorees for the 17th Annual Rock Chalk Roundball Classic, a Kansas charity basketball event involving University of Kansas alumni that provides direct financial grants to families of children fighting cancer, as reported by the Lawrence Journal-World.
Home Support While Facing a Fourth Fight
The family's story also highlights the broader burdens of pediatric cancer. Families facing pediatric cancer often face steep out-of-pocket travel and lodging expenses just to reach specialized care.
That is where Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City has played a central role. Jaxson and his father Jeffrey have stayed there during his treatment, and the organization operates a Ronald McDonald House across the street from Children's Mercy, where families traveling long distances for specialized pediatric care can stay. Jaxson still attends regular follow-up appointments at Children's Mercy, which he has called “like a second home to me.”
Giving Back From the Recovery Room
Rather than stepping away once his own fight eased, Jaxson turned his experience into advocacy for other families. He uses his experience to support other families.
That advocacy extends onto the field itself. At Kansas City Chiefs training camp in St. Joseph, Missouri, Jaxson attended as part of broader coverage of his story. A Facebook video from the Chiefs training camp is titled “Jason Kelce at Chiefs camp.”
Jeffrey has described his son's role in the fight against childhood cancer. Jaxson's story reflects a message of perseverance for other families facing the same fight.
