Help our hero win his ongoing battle against life threatening cancer.
Max Spartacus Kleckner is a brave six-year-old boy who has been fighting cancer since July 4, 2008 when he was just four-years old. Max was diagnosed with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma, an extremely rare and aggressive cancer that had spread from a tumor in his head to his bone marrow. He underwent a year of chemotherapy and radiation and continues to be treated with premium-grade immunotherapy and alternative medicines. Max enjoyed a magical normal kid year after treatment before the cancer relapsed. Max’s family strongly believes in healing the entire person, physically, spiritually and emotionally and—with the help of his friends, family and the Cardiff community — have showered Max with love, fun, and a stress-free environment. We banded together to support the Kleckner family once before, and we hope that you will join us again to help this brave little boy beat this cancer, once and for all!!!
Posted on 3 January '12 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max had a fantastic summer, we chose to do a staycation in gorgeous Cardiff by the Sea. Max went to Harry Potter camp, build it camp, volleyball camp, jr lifeguards and played with his buddies all summer long. We did some bike training this summer, funny the little things that you don’t master when you spend years in the hospital. We ended the summer with a 10mile ride, he was so proud of himself. He is doing really well, has some hair back on his head, grew a tad and is full of energy. 
Max has started 2nd grade this month and he absolutely loves it. Full schedule; school, soccer, tennis and swim team. Me, Ive been paying my dues at work, only 1 day off all summer and im ready for a big vacation. Hopefully Max’s Oct scans will be clear and then its off to Thailand to visit my Aunty Sharon. Mark is still the super fun dad, he is still keeping fit and I’ve loaded him up with home improvement projects. Fit? I don’t recall what that was like. 
Although we are trying to lead a normal life, cancer is still ever present in our daily lives. We still have the daily grind of administering 36 supplements, antibiotics and daily oral chemo to Max. We still spend 1 day a week at the hospital for IV chemo, labs and various dr appointments. We dread it; the pokes, the waiting, seeing all the kids suffering on the oncology ward and not to mention that we are still poisoning our son. Every time Max complains that his eye or jaw hurts, it fills me with fear of what might be within. There is a reason that they call it a cancer journey, it touches every part of your life, your family and your friends, and even with the best outcome, it is still without end.
Posted on 15 September '11 by admin, under News. No Comments.
The preliminary read on the scans are good, no visible cancer, but there is a lot of post surgical and radiation tissue damage that the surgeons need to review to be sure. The anxiety level was high last week but for now we can breathe again. Cancer continues to teach me to enjoy every moment with Max, to try and find that balance between work, family, friends and fun. 
We had a great vacation in Los Barrilles Mexico, so much fun in the sun. We are so grateful that our friends were able to join us and make it exponentially more fun. Now that its over its time to plan the next adventure. 
Max is two weeks into cycle 2 of maintenance chemo and doing fairly well. 10more days till summer vacation for Max. I wish I wish I wish…that I didn’t have to work, Id love to take 3months off with Max and do everything that our hearts desire. Ha, wouldn’t we all. On the bright side, I get to spend the summer at home in Cardiff By The Sea, one of the best places on earth.
Posted on 7 June '11 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Its been a month of ups and downs with Max’s health, the maintenance chemo has been way harder than we expected. After Max completed his relapse protocol he had a few weeks where his appetite came back and his strength and stamina really started to improve, it was so encouraging…..but alas, it was short lived. He started maintenance chemo in mid April and it has once again zapped his appetite and stamina. His blood counts are dropping lower than we had hoped and he has needed a lot of extra sleep. The daily chemo is hard to get down him and the process for the weekly IV push at the hospital takes about 5hrs. We are so done with the long days in the hospital!
Ok, so its not all bleak, most of the time, in true Max form, he is all go and he is having a blast. He joined the swim team, plays baseball, skateboards, plays tennis, takes piano lessons and has been able to attend 4 days a week at school.
We are getting very excited for Max’s long awaited vacation. We leave for east cape Cabo this Saturday. Snorkeling, Zip lines, ATVs, fishing, pool, 90deg days, volleyball, good friends, cervasa’s…and so much more await us. Yahoo!
Posted on 10 May '11 by admin, under News. No Comments.
After a long 9months of chemo, Max has completed his relapse protocol and his end of treatment scans are “good”. We are told that Max will never have clear scans due to all of the tissue and bone damage from surgery and radiation so doc’s watch for changes from scan to scan. So for now we get a break and we hope and prey that the beast is gone. 
Mark and I will struggle for years to come with the physical damage that cancer has done to Max’s little body and with all the possible late effects lurking in his future. Our anxiety and sleepless nights will never be over, but all things considering, MAX HAS CRUSHED THIS, he is just amazing, we are so blessed to have such a super hero for a kid. Max is emotionally, physically and mentally strong and will go on to fight another day. 
This has been a really fun month. Max is playing in the Encinitas Little League and wow, what a great organization. Its filled with rich tradition and community support. They gave Max the Tom Dempsey award for courage and they donated some of their fundraising to Max. Max is pretty clueless about baseball, in his first game he thought that you were supposed to ‘attack’ the runner instead of ‘tag’, I was wondering why he was in so many dog piles during practice. Max turned 7 a few weeks ago and Best-a-Wan threw him wild and rocking party, they always take such good care of us, thanks Becky & AnneJ 
We have a few days to get Max’s through his last chemo nadir, oh please let it be a light one. Next up we start a new chapter of maintenance chemo so stay tuned.
This week has left us exhausted, a long week of chemo and then some serious parties and a tad too much champagne…..and yes, I did dance on the table at the Cardiff SEA Gala! Wahoo…Go Spartacus.
Posted on 22 March '11 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Gheez… this has been such a long, long war. This past month we have had to dig deep to keep our spirits up. Watching how weak and tired Max has become, he is so thin and pale, his stamina gone, but he is still smiling, still ready to have fun at a moments notice.
Max has earned over 600 beads of courage for every poke, chemo, surgery, transfusion, radiation and other form of torture associated with pediatric cancer. 
We took Max skiing last week and we had a few days filled with both cheer and tears. Watching his bandy little legs do the pizza wedge all the way down the mountain, seeing his determination for hours on end makes your heart melt. He had such determination that he almost broke himself, that night Ive never seen him so wilted and tired. The rest of the weekend we kept a more mellow pace with fun and games in the cabin. So much fun with 5 families piled in Dan’s cabin. When we got home Max’s hemoglobin’s were so low he could barely walk, ugg, long transfusion to recover, we are really sick of cancer.
We are approaching a new milestone with both relief and fear. Just 1 more round of intense chemo to go. Max will have his end of treatment scans in a few weeks and the anxiety is mounting. Every ache and pain makes my heart run cold with fear.
By mid April we hope Max will regain some strength. He will then begin 2 years of maintenance chemo, a new chapter in the war.
Posted on 3 March '11 by admin, under News. No Comments.
These were the words from dr Mascarenhas after he gave us his prognosis on Max’s case. Dr M is leading a clinical trial for relapsed Rhabdo’s up in Los Angeles. His knowledge and research is very impressive, he’s one of the foremost pediatric sarcoma specialists in the US. Unfortunately there isn’t really anything new to offer for Max, dr M explained that Max has resistant tumor cells that will grow again, the cancer will return, these were the same words that dr Kim said to us last year. Dr M gives Max a 1 in 10 chance of survival. The quality of life decisions weigh heavily upon us, again we will do our best to balance the best and most advanced care along with maximum love and fun possible for our little MAXimum pleasure. Max is more than 1 in 10, he is one in 1 in a Million.
Max has been really strong this past few weeks. We started the holidays with him feeling a little weak but he picked up steam and had a great time. His eye is doing well, the scar has shrunk below his pupil so he is able to see 20/25 in his right eye. We have entered chemo round 10 out of 14 and the toxins continue to build. Max’s motor skills have been significantly impacted by the chemo but he is still unstoppable, he trips and stumbles constantly but always gets up and keeps on going. I cant even watch sometimes, my heart stops with every fall, but nothing warms your heart more than seeing him have fun and seeing him smile.
With only 3-4 more months of aggressive chemo ahead we are starting to plan for Max’s fun year. Max will still be on maintenance chemo but that is supposed to be much more tolerable. First up is Max’s long overdue summer vacation, this is his post chemo prize. East cape Cabo is in the plans for May, maybe Hawaii in the summer and if all goes really well Thailand in November. Throw in some adventure, a big smile from Max and life is good. Buddies are always welcome so if you wanna join Max on his prize vacation let me know.
Posted on 11 January '11 by admin, under News. No Comments.
This past 6weeks Max’s has had some rough days, fighting to keep the vision in his right eye. During his last 2 nadirs when he was run down he had another viral attack on his eye. The attacks were really painful and the resulting ulcer and scar were blocking his vision so his brain had started to shut his eye down. With Dr O’Hallarans help we have been aggressively treating him with eye steroids, patching his dominant eye and lots of antiviral meds. His vision has started to come back, he is strong right now and super happy and fun. He is approaching his next nadir and we are hoping to get thru it without incidence. 
Max has been able to maintain his weight during his treatment so far, he doesn’t typically eat during his nadir so we work on packing on the calories during the good days. He hasn’t grown again this year, chemo prevents growth. 2 years of chemo and Max has missed 2 years of growth. Max has now dropped on the growth charts from above 100 percentile in height to 50% and his weight is now down to the 10percentile.
Max is only able to attend about 50% of school but he is managing to keep up, smart little guy. Xmas is just around the corner and we are looking forward to a combined family holiday in Palm Springs. Wish it was another Caribbean Cruise but that will have to wait until May when he has finished this year of chemo and can rebuild his immune system.
9 chemo rounds almost over, 5 more to go….counting down the months. Go Spartacus!
Posted on 19 December '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Max just crossed the half way point with his current chemo protocol, 8 out 14 rounds done. This last nadir was another tough one with days fighting a fever with what few white cells he has and battling severe eye pain from another dendritic ulcer attack. Its amazing how gloomy the house gets while Max is down, we watch, wait and monitor around the clock for days, life goes on hold until Max gets through it. Today he awoke with a smile, the fever gone, and the sun shine’s again in the house of Spartacus.
Max had scans last week, MRI of his head and CT of his chest, both came back clear, the chemo is still working, such a relief. The journey is wearing on us, it’s a really long journey with little end in sight, so all we can do is set goals to conquer each milestone as they come….and of course lets not forget to have fun! 
Max loves his nurses, especially Kate & Jess
Posted on 2 December '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Dear Cardiff Village, Friends and Family,
There are no words to express our gratitude for the incredible outpouring of support at the Mighty Max benefit, the event was far beyond anything that we could have imagined. What an amazing community, if love alone could cure cancer!
Max is almost half way through this chemotherapy regimen that began in early July. Beyond that the direction is unclear, Max’s oncologist believes that this aggressive cancer will return and so continued treatment will be needed. The vaccine trial that we were hoping to get Max into is no longer an option, the National Cancer Institute was unable to make a vaccine for Max. Our quest for a cure continues.
Thank you to all the Mighty Max benefit sponsors; Rimels, Zenbu, Eastcoast Pizza, Seaside Market, Sambazon & 20Lounge. Thank you to the benefit champions; Janet, Britney, Lisa, Barb, Kelly, Christie, Kimberly and Rae, you really know how to throw an event. Thank you to Enjet media for producing Max’s amazing video, makes me cry every time I watch it. Thank you to all of the volunteers, bands, hooping for happiness, hip hop dancers, Vert champ skaters Pierre and Rune, and to DJ Jay Isbell. And a big thank you to our incredible community for your donations and support. see pictures of the event at www.stevenhyde.com pw: mightymax
Posted on 3 November '10 by admin, under News. No Comments.
Its going to be a fantastic year with only 4more months of maintenance chemo to go. Max has been feeling great, lots of energy and lots of smiles. I cant imagine how big and strong he will be when the chemo ends. So exciting…so scary. 
