Wyatt Jones was just like every other 17-year-old. He enjoyed video games, spending time with his friends and family and loved drawing.
So in January of 2024, when he presented allergy and cold like symptoms, his mother, Amanda Adkins gave it little thought.
Then in late January, Jones shared with his mom that he had found a lump on his neck. This was also the time when, being a true teenager, he shared with his mom that he had been coughing up blood for a week.
Not one to mess around, Adkins took her son to Oak Valley Clinic for immediate care. A CT Scan was ordered and tests were run, but nothing out of the ordinary showed at the time. Symptoms continued to show up over the course of the days that passed and by mid-February 2024 the family found themselves traveling from Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room via ambulance to Sutter Children’s Center, Sacramento.
“I saw them draw the blood and I saw the colors of the blood,” Adkins said of the testing they started once they arrived, “and it was not what his blood normally looks like.”
The irregular blood appearance was an indicator of Jones’ lack of oxygen. Something which his mom shared would not have been known to the naked eye. As a result, he was placed on oxygen immediately.
At the time, Jones was a junior at Oakdale Charter School. The diagnosis was given at what would become their home away from home, Sutter Children’s Center, Sacramento.
It was cancer, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML.
“The hospital we were at had an 80 percent survival rate,” the mother of three shared, noting they were also told it was a cancer more common in adults.
“So we thought okay, we got this,” Adkins continued. “Usually in a child, like my son who was 17, it’s very treatable, very curable. So going into this we had a lot of hope.”
‘Hope’ would quickly change to a new reality for the single mom and her son. She shared once given the diagnosis they continued additional testing to ensure they knew exactly what they were up against.
“After that it just was a roller coaster,” she shared. “They came in the next morning and that’s when they dropped the bomb on us. His entire body was riddled with the lymph nodes (affected by cancer).”
The initial chemotherapy plan for Jones was three weeks on and one week off, for four total cycles. He would remain in the hospital for treatments. His mom would stay close by at a Ronald McDonald House.
“He had to be inpatient during his treatments because he was so high risk,” she explained.
He also became neutropenic, suffered from pneumonia and had fluid filling his right lung as a result of a fungal infection. By March he was placed in the PICU at Sutter Children’s.
The fluid was removed from his lung via a tube. And, just a month into the process and learning of his diagnosis, Jones’ body began to give out.
“His entire body was crashing at this point,” his mom recalled, stating that he had to be intubated as a result of his oxygen levels dropping.
As Adkins and her sister Sammie waited, they began praying. They were then faced with news they had not anticipated. The mother and aunt were informed that they had two choices as a result of the 17-year-old’s condition.
“We can continue trying to stabilize him and him go into cardiac arrest,” Adkins recounted, “or we can put him on ECMO and he’ll have a 50/50 chance of coming off.”
ECMO, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, is a temporary life support technology used to support the heart and lungs when they are unable to function.
Weighing their options, the family opted for the ECMO.
“That was the longest nine days of my life. They thought that he’d be on there for 30 days. He was on it for nine,” she shared. “It’s an experience nobody should ever have to go through and I’ve relived all of it so many times in my head.”
Fortunately, shortly following Jones coming through the other side of the ECMO treatment, he was released to go home. It was his first time away from the hospital in 79 days.
“The leukemia did stay away for that one month,” his mother said of his break. “He got to be cancer free for that one month. It was another miracle.”
His remaining three chemo cycles continued and at the end of October 2024 he concluded his final treatment and returned home to Oakdale.
“We headed home thinking that was it,” Adkins said of her now high school senior’s journey.
However the family came to learn, what many families also know, the disease can be both ruthless and unpredictable.
A little over a month after returning home, Jones began having problems with his right eye. A visit to his optometrist would result in a referral back to oncology. It was confirmed the leukemia was now in his eye and radiation would be used to try and save it.
“Unfortunately, by the time we got him up there he had already lost the sight in his right eye,” Adkins shared. “His response was I guess I get to be a pirate.”
The two weeks which followed would be any parent’s nightmare.
First, Jones began having trouble in his left eye as well. Radiation was begun on that eye to try and save it. On Jan. 5, 2025 the now 18-year-old shared with his mom that his vision was much improved on the left side. Yet, Jones admitted, her gut told her something wasn’t right.
“One thing he did tell me earlier that day, mom I’m scared,” she sadly stated. “The whole time he’d been battling he’d never said that.”
When asked what prompted that statement, he shared with his mom he feared it would never go away.
“I’ll never forget that. The whole time he battled, he’d never said that,” she reiterated.
Later that day, Jones suffered a stroke.
“There wasn’t a thing I could do,” Adkins said, with tear filled eyes. “The first thing they saw on the CT scan was blood clots. They were losing him at CT, so they had to rush him up to PICU to get him stabilized.”
Twelve hours following that horrific event, at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2025, Adkins learned her eldest child was brain dead.
“I basically watched him go the day before. We just didn’t know he was gone,” she shared.
While the days, weeks and months which have followed are anything but the same, somehow Adkins has managed to find strength to not just persevere but make a difference in the lives of others.
“I’ve got to fight for the kids now. We’re their voices,” she stated. “Wyatt said he wanted to make a difference when it was all over with. He can’t now, I can, so I will.”
Inspired by her two daughters, following the passing of their brother, she has started the non-profit Loving Heart Creations, Inc.
She said it’s an organization that is still in the start-up/launching stages but one which will eventually raise money to benefit other non-profits for childhood cancer.
“Life is so short,” she added of her experience. “This was just one more reminder of how short life is. My life will be forever changed because of this.”
As for the largest lesson she would share with other parents, she said, “Take it all very serious. If your kid isn’t feeling well, you know your kid better than anybody and just always make sure that your kids know they can come to you when they don’t feel well.”
As for Jones and how he will be remembered, he left behind close to 1,000 sketches which he planned to someday place in stories he wrote. While he may not be here to finish the books, his art will now be displayed at the Ronald McDonald House, Sutter Children’s Hospital and the oncology office where he spent so much time.
“I’m forever grateful for being his mom. I feel incredibly blessed that I got him,” Adkins said of her son.
“During cancer treatment, you’re going to go through waves. Watching your kid go through it, it’s like grieving because it’s a new life for them,” she shared. “It’s a new life for your family. You’re still experiencing a loss, even if they’re still with you. I know it’s not fun to talk about the sick kids, but guess what, somebody has to.”
The American Cancer Society reports that one in 285 children will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20.
The month of September is designated at Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The staff of The Leader wishes to thank Amanda Adkins for sharing the story of Wyatt Jones, Warrior.
