Help our hero win his battle against life threatening cancer.
Max Spartacus Kleckner is a brave four-year old boy diagnosed with stage 4 embryonic type rhabdomyosarcoma. This is an inoperable condition requiring a long fight with mounting medical expenses. A group of family, friends, and neighbors have gathered to support Max and his parents Mark Kleckner and Natalie Young. We hope you will join us on this journey towards healing.
For a more detailed look into Max's everyday challenges and triumphs, follow the family on Check on Someone.
2009 was a year of tears and joy for the Young-Kleckner family. We are starting 2010 with a wonderful gift, our little super hero Max’s latest scans came back clear. 9months cancer free. 2010 promises to be an awesome year. Best wishes to all of our wonderful friends and family for a happy and healthy 2010. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 4 January '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max’s multi-daily routine to give his body the best fighting chance; integrative meds, supplements, anitbiotics, eye steroids, patch therapy…
Posted on 26 October '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max had his 6month post chemo scans last week and they came back all clear. Such a relief! Dr Kim was thrilled to see how well Max is doing. We are very encouraged and cautiously optimistic.
Max will continue to get scans every 3months for two years, then it will go to every 4months. After 5years the confidence level goes up and the scans will go to annual, still a LONG way to go. We continue with all the daily supplements, about 30 a day, clean water, air…healthy life as much as possible….and most important lots of love and fun. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 1 October '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max started kindergarten today, what a happy day. We are so fortunate that Cardiff elementary is such a magical little school and that Max will have such a wonderful experience. Max has so many buddies in school with him and his teacher Ms Stone is wonderful.
Our summer 09 post cancer treatment has been 5% pain in the booty high maintenance supplements and meds, 5% dr and hospital appointments, 5% worrying if the beast is still within and 85% LOVE and FUN. We are truly happy and continue to enjoy each moment with Max to the fullest. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 1 September '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max continues to conquer the bad guys, his bone scan and chest CT scan this week came back clear. Max has been off chemo for almost 4months now and he is getting so strong and healthy.
This past month has been a summer to remember; we started it off with an RV vacation with buddies along to add to the fun, discovery camp at the Y, swimming lessons, the Del Mar fair, Cardiff elementary summer camp with his old preschool buddies, surf camp, lots long sunny days on the beach and a massive 4th of July celebration that marked 1yr since his diagnosis. With this latest good news, the fun summer continues and it will be 3months before the next round of scans. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 23 July '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Scar Tissue! The latest biopsy came back all scar tissue and the MRI showed again that the mass is stable in size. Yahoo!!! Now it’s really time for champagne. It’s going to be a great summer focusing on fun and health. 
Dr Jenny delivered the great news with caution that the biopsy is only a small snapshot of the mass and she is still concerned that the cancer can take hold in other places in his body, so we will continue to do frequent scans and test. For now we are very optimistic and so happy. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 18 June '09 by admin, under News. 1 Comment.
3 families in one RV? We really do like each other a lot. We had a great whirlwind vacation with some great friends to the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Lake Havasu. Lots of laughs and adventure. It was great to go a entire week with no TV or video games, just lots of big and little kid fun.
Last time I wrote we were facing a rough decision to start another year of chemo. Well we decided that the results were not conclusive enough to put Max’s body through another year of poison so we have chosen to wait a month and repeat the MRI and the biopsy. We are hoping for some good news later this week.
Posted on 16 June '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max’s biopsy results were not as positive as we had hoped for. Both scar tissue and a-typical cells were seen in the small needle core samples that were removed. There are no clear answers to what this means except that the medical team feels that it puts Max at high risk that the cancer is not dead. Dr Jenny did a lot of research last week, she also consulted with MD Anderson and they are both recommending that Max go on a low dose chemo regimen for the next year.
Over the past few months my research and philosophy has been in the opposite direction of chemo, more along the lines of immune boosters and immunotherapy. At some point the body needs to be able to fight the disease on its own but at what point does it have enough power to do that? Immunotherapy is making strides with several cancers; antibodies are being developed to light up cancer cells so that the body’s own white cells know where to attack. Unfortunately for Max, the breakthroughs in science are not targeted at Rhabdo’s. Rhabdo’s are too rare so there is no funding for research to help Rhabdo kids. The standard Rhabdo chemotherapy protocols haven’t changed in 20years.
Many options are on the table for discussion; full resection of the tumor, more aggressive chemo’s, travel to other major cancer centers for clinical trials, gamma knife, more radiation, do nothing, increase the integrative meds…..lots of research ahead.
Despite the hell that Max has been through this past 10 months he has continued to conquer every battle put before him. This latest news is definitely a set back but nothing that we can’t come back from. For each of us this journey touches our hearts in many ways; to me this latest news was devastating; to my parents, Max being their only grandson, this news really knocked the wind out of their sails and left them in complete despair; to Mark thankfully for Mark, he was able to look at this news with relief that the cells were not cancer, his positive outlook has once again helped me through a weak moment. Its time to regroup and get ready for the next path in Max’s journey with cancer; it’s going to be a long week deciding which path to take.
Natalie (Max’s mom)
Posted on 18 May '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max turned 5 this month and what a time to celebrate, eight months ago we didn’t know if this day would come. Max’s village made an incredible showing of support for this major event and his birthday celebrations went on for weeks, including a trip to SeaWorld, Lego Land, Playworks and a huge party at Winners Tennis club. 
We have made a decision to stop chemo after this round is complete in 3 weeks, 1 round short of the original standard protocol. This decision is supported by both Max’s oncologist Jenny Kim and our trusted friend and integrative medicine guru Richard Helfrich. After completing 3 MRI’s over a 5 month time period the tumor appears to be stable in size at 2.6cm so our hope is that only dead tissue remains. No more chemo, no more poisoning Max’s little body. A time for champane or tears?…….probably a little of both.
Dr Kim thinks it would take 6 months before scans would be able to detect any new cancer growth so the next 6 months will be a time to focus on Max’s strength and immune system. Ahead of us will be years of intense supplements and healthy choices in our lives to help Max’s body have the best chance of beating his battle against cancer. We will be managing the late effects of cancer, chemo and radiation for years to come but for now its time for a fun, normal kid summer. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 21 March '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
We had a fabulous week in Hawaii filled with fun, adventure, relaxation and lots of decadence. Max was so happy and so energetic, his appetite and health were in peak form. Make-A-Wish arranged so many special activities for Max in Hawaii and he was treated as the guest of honor at each event. We stayed at the luxury Hyatt Kaanapali resort, we went whale watching, to a luau, to the aquarium, snorkeling, swimming and playing on the beach. Thank you Make-A-Wish for making Max’s wish come true. 
Posted on 22 February '09 by admin, under News. No Comments.
