PEKIN — A motor vehicle accident this spring led to a cancer diagnosis for a Pekin teenager, and a family member has begun a GoFundMe campaign to help with his medical expenses.
Destin Blanch, 17, was driving home at the end of the school year when his vehicle was rear-ended. While he was receiving treatment in the emergency room at OSF St Francis Medical Center in Peoria, staff performed a computed tomography (CT) scan.
“When they did the CT scan, they found a lump on my thyroid,” Blanch said. “They asked me to get it checked out.”
Blanch, who had played nose guard on Pekin’s high school football team last season, had been hoping to return to the gridiron for his senior year.
That plan has given way to a round of doctor’s appointments, testing and surgery. Blanch had the left side of his thyroid gland removed for testing in August, according to his sister, Bryonna Blanch. Blanch and his family received the test results last month, and they were not encouraging.
“He tested positive for papillary thyroid carcinoma, and metastatic cancer spread through his lymph nodes,” Bryonna said. “The next plan of action is to remove the other part of his thyroid and give him iodine radiation. He will have to be on replacement medication for the rest of his life, and we are hoping the radiation will kill the rest of the cancer cells in his lymph nodes.”
Bryonna started a GoFundMe campaign last week and set an initial fundraising goal of $2,000. As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had generated $612 in donations. Bryonna also launched a GoFundMe in August after her brother, Nych Spears of Rockford, died in a car accident.
“Finding out Destin has cancer leaves a pit in my stomach I cannot shake,” she said. “I do not want to go through losing another sibling.”
While being diagnosed with cancer has disrupted his school year and his life in general, Blanch is thankful for the moral support he has received from family and friends.
“The school is also cooperating with me,” he said. “They’re going to help me get set up with a special education teacher and do schoolwork with them when I’m not at school.”
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Fundraising campaign underway for Pekin teenager diagnosed with cancer
Reporting by Mike Kramer, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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