As the state began to shut down in March of 2020, Connor Schaible, 5, started his own fight agains disease - Burkitt's Lymphoma. Burkitt's is a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in which cancer starts in immune cells called B-cells. As rare and fast-growing cancer, the family was taken by surprise at this unexpected diagnosis and immediately launched into a powerful battle, earning Connor his new nickname, Little Warrior.

Full of smiles, laughter and strength, Connor tackled the cancer with force putting himself into remission over the summer. Life began to move to some form of normalcy as Connor became a big brother in June and started kindergarten in August. But the cancer had other plans and grew back into the family's life in October. In a more aggressive form and even more rare occurrence, rapid decisions had to be made to take out-of-the-box approaches to beat this cancer again.

CAR-T therapy, a newer approach to fighting cancer by leveraging the body's own immune system, is the new path for Connor. Because his cancer is so rare and the therapy still in development, Connor needed to be treated by the experts and founders of the treatment, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). This meant Connor and his parents needed to get to CHOP quickly to initiate the process of removing his CAR-T cells.

Wings of Mercy became an answered prayer and a sign that the Little Warrior was moving toward the best decision to win his battle with cancer. Lots of coordination happened at a fast pace to fly Connor and his parents to Philadelphia to meet the doctors that would navigate the therapy. There was comfort in this big journey when Connor's mom was surprised to discover familiar faces in the pilots who happened to be fellow co-workers. The experience became that much more special and meaningful as Connor was treated like a VIP during their trip to CHOP.

Looking ahead, Connor is scheduled to receive his therapy while kicking off the new year. The family and Connor's village continue to pray this new therapy is the solution, leading Connor to his ultimate victory in defeating cancer.

"We couldn't be more grateful the care, support and services we received from Wings of Mercy, the pilots and the many people in the background who helped make our trip to CHOP and the start of our CAR-T therapy possible. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts!" - The Schaible Family