By DOUG DONNELLY

Advance Editor

OTTAWA LAKE – These days, Aiden Beauregard is playing and running around and doing the things a typical 4-year-old might do.

Next month, however, the Ottawa Lake resident will be hospitalized for at least 30 days while he undergoes the second bone marrow transplant of his life.

“He’s had a remarkable turnaround,” said his mother, Ashley Beauregard. “We thought he would have to be in therapy for quite some time, but he’s back to his baseline and running and playing around.

Aiden was first diagnosed with Infant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare, aggressive cancer in children under 1 year. Fewer than five percent of all childhood cancers are Infant B-cell type. It is caused by a rare gene mutation.

After chemotherapy and radiation, he underwent a bone marrow transplant in May, 2023. Two months later, while his body was fighting the cancer, he relapsed. For the next several months, however, Aiden appeared to be on his way to recovery and even started school at Summerfield schools, where his mom worked in the cafeteria.

One day, however, Ashley noticed something was off.

“I was the lunch lady,” she said. “He just wasn’t himself. He started hating school and didn’t want to go and was resistant. One day, during school, I had to leave and take him to my mom’s house. He had a seizure.”

The family called 911.

“It wasn’t like a typical seizure,” she said. “He wasn’t like shaking. He was just staring and looking to the right. They took him to the hospital. That’s when they said he has all of this pressure on his brain. He had a blockage from the leukemia that had come back.”

In the aftermath of the surgery, Aiden lost all motor skills.

“He lost his ability to do everything,” she said. “He couldn’t walk. We had a fear he was going to be blind. We had to wait and see.”

Once again, Aiden pulled through and seems to be doing well now. Still, Ashley said, he will need another bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.”

“We still have to go through with the transplant,” she said.

The good news is a match has been found and preparations will begin soon. The operation will be done at the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor.

“After the transplant they want him to have more chemo,” she said. “We will continuously be going back and forth to the hospital.”

Ashley and her husband Marcus moved back to southeast Michigan from Texas in 2019, and have lived in Ottawa Lake for three years. Aiden’s older brother, Declan, 8, is a student at Whiteford Elementary School.

Marcus, who is a sales engineer in the paint industry, graduated from Whiteford in 2006. Ashley (Zibbell) graduated from Summerfield in 2008.

“We’re doing okay,” Ashley said.

“He’s not a baby anymore so he understands it more and so does his brother The family and community support has been incredible. We are very blessed in that aspect.”

SATURDAY MAY 9
Taco Fundraiser Details

Family members of the Beauregard’s have organized a fundraiser to help cover medical and transportation costs.
Called “Taco ‘Bout Supporting Aiden,” the event will be from 2-8 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at the Deerfield American Legion, 105 W. River St. A $15 donation is being accepted at the door and takeout is available.
There will be a 50/50 raffle every hour, bingo begins at 2 p.m. and includes a $25 entry fee, and a cornhole tournament, weather permitting, will be outside, also with a $25 entry fee.
Other donations are accepted as well by contacting Shelly Laberdee, Ashley’s aunt, at (734) 216-6437.