In May 2023, Shaun had a city physical through his employer where he had a chest Xray completed as part of his physical. They discovered an abnormal Xray which was followed up with a chest CT scan. The scan showed he had mildly enlarged lymph nodes in his mediastinal/hilar area of the chest. Approximately 6 month later, he started experiencing a choking sensation in his neck and was followed up with an ENT and Pulmonologist and had more scans completed. That's when we learned that the chest lymph nodes had tripled in size and neck lymph nodes had also started getting enlarging. A neck biopsy confirmed Shaun's diagnosis of having Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma (SLL). After further DNA/mutation tests, it was learned that he had all the bad mutations one can have for this type of cancer. This meant that Shaun's cancer would be more aggressive and resist treatment sooner.

In Nov 2024, Shaun began his first treatment due to having enlarged lymph nodes (around 10cm). He had a great response and treatment seemed to be working well until late Feb 2025, when Shaun started getting unexplained fevers, night sweats, fatigue, and enlarged lymph nodes growing back. Due to his symptoms, he was admitted into the ER to run additional tests and to rule out any kind of infections. After another chest CT scan was completed, it had shown that his cancer had become aggressive again. They performed a chest biopsy and learned that his CLL/SLL cancer had transformed into a much more aggressive type of lymphoma called Richter's Transformation. This is also known as Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL).

Shaun is now battling two different types of cancers: one that is incurable but treatable and the other is curable but with a low survival rate due to the aggressiveness and limited treatment options that are available. Richter's Transformation is also very rare where approximately 100 people in the world get it a year, so it?s not very well studied. His only and best chance of beating this is by getting a Stem Cell Transplant. To do that, he needs to get to remission for it to have a chance at being successful. The good news is that Shaun has at least ten 10/10 matches in the world that are willing to donate their stem cells to save his life. Three of those matches are considered 12/12 matches which is the best you can have. 

At the end of March 2025, Shaun underwent chemo-immunotherapy (R-CHOP) to treat the Richter's Transformation; however, it only worked for 2-3 weeks before he relapsed. He then started his second treatment consisting of a combination of three targeted/immunotherapy drugs. He had a great response to this treatment and was considered to be in remission by the 2nd to 3rd month. As Shaun begun preparing for a Stem Cell Transplant, he had relapsed again as the medication was no longer working and his lymph nodes started enlarging again. This meant Shaun had to start his third treatment which would be more aggressive and have more risks.

In August 2025, Shaun started the CAR-T apheresis process where his T-cells were cycled out of his body so that they could be sent off to a lab to be reengineered. Once they are reengineered, which can take 4 weeks, they will be returned and infused back into his body to attack the cancer. His infusion date is scheduled around the end of September. CAR-T has about a 50% success rate and carries a lot of risks to include death due to the side effects (CRS/ICANS and infections). In the meantime, Shaun and Sarah have been traveling every week to UVA to get a weekly subcutaneous shot called Epcoritamab. If Epcoritamab works by itself, then Shaun may be able to skip CAR-T and go straight to a Stem Cell Transplant. He has also completed 2 weeks of Radiation to his neck lymph nodes which has caused him a lot of fatigue.

His journey is far from over and will require more tests and hospital trips; New trials are often in the works.

All profits will be given directly to Shaun and his family.