Meet TOKC’s 2017 James’ Wingman!

TOKC's 2017 James' Wingman Andrew Ross

     Andrew Ross is 8 years old, and has pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer that metastasized to his liver.  Andrew is imaginative, creative, and used to be a competitive swimmer before he was diagnosed with pediatric cancer. Unfortunately, his stomach pain makes it too difficult for him to swim like he used to.  Andrew lives with his family in Sugarland, TX, and has a very close relationship with his two loving sisters, Abigail (9) and Grace (4).

The story of Andrew and his family is both devastating and remarkable. The Ross Family was already quite familiar with the hospital experience before Andrew’s diagnosis because his younger sister, Grace, has Down Syndrome.  She is only 4 years old, has already had 4 major heart surgeries, and will need at least one more.  Andrew was diagnosed with cancer last summer after several months of increasing stomach pain.  His cancer is truly an orphan cancer. The best doctors at a number of institutions have never seen anything like Andrew’s tumor before, especially in a child. There are no treatments for his cancer. He is currently being treated at Texas Children’s Hospital with an oral chemotherapy that will hopefully help some, while genomic researchers at M.D. Anderson, (including Dr. Andrew Futreal, one of the two lead researchers on GRASP), are hard at work sequencing his tumor and trying to identify effective treatments for Andrew.

In spite of all of this, they all remain positive and hopeful for their futures. The entire Ross Family is actively looking for ways to become more active in the pediatric cancer world.  We are very excited that they have chosen to do so by joining the TOKC Family.