08/10/2026
Prayers for Xavier! 🙏🏼❤️
A few days ago, 11-year-old Xavier was lacing up his cleats in Comfort, Texas.
He had just started his fourth and final season with the Comfort Youth Football League. One more year before moving up to middle school ball. He had worked for it. He was ready.
Then during practice, he cramped up. His coach felt something near his hip. A knot.
His mom Jessica thought it might be sciatica. A sports hernia. Something that made sense for a boy who had been running drills in the summer heat.
Sunday brought an ER visit. No imaging. Sent home.
Monday, a chiropractor.
Tuesday, another medical visit. Still no answers.
Wednesday night, Xavier wanted to go back to practice. That evening, Jessica looked at her son's legs and stopped cold.
His right leg was significantly larger than his left.
She rushed him back to the ER. This time she did not leave without answers.
"I advocated for Xavier to get a proper exam and treatment," she said.
The doctor listened. Ordered a CT scan. Then walked back in around 5 a.m.
"I have some answers."
Multiple masses in Xavier's pelvis. Hematomas. Lymphoma a major concern. Transfer to a pediatric hospital immediately.
Jessica fell to her knees on the ER floor.
Robert was home in Comfort with their younger son Zayden. Jessica had to pick up the phone and tell her husband that their 11-year-old might have cancer.
Xavier was transferred to CHRISTUS Children's in San Antonio. Doctors kept looking. A chest X-ray initially came back clear. Then they repeated imaging of his abdomen, pelvis, and chest.
They found another mass.
This one sits between his rib cage and his heart. Its location is exactly why the first X-ray missed it.
A biopsy was performed. The results came back.
It is cancer.
Pathology is still working to determine exactly which type of lymphoma Xavier is fighting. Once they know, his family says doctors will move fast and hit it hard.
For a few days, Jessica and Robert had not told Xavier what was being considered. They did not want their boy carrying that fear before they had something certain to tell him.
Then they sat down with their 11-year-old and explained why he was in the hospital.
"He went through all the emotions and that's normal," Jessica said.
A week ago he was worried about his leg before practice.
Now he is having a chemotherapy port placed, a bone marrow biopsy performed, and a spinal tap completed so his doctors can prepare to fight.
He has been withdrawn from Comfort Middle School. Football season is on hold. Nobody knows yet how long he will be in that hospital.
But Jessica says Xavier is in good spirits. His friends and his coach have been showing up for him. And she has a message for every parent reading this.
"Don't dismiss your child's pain if you feel something. Advocate for your child regardless."
She kept pushing. She demanded the scan. She trusted what her instincts were telling her when three medical visits told her something different.
Xavier is a fighter, she says.
"He is so strong."
Please pray for Xavier tonight. Pray that pathology gives his doctors the answers they need to fight this fast. Pray for Jessica and Robert carrying a fear no parent should have to carry.
And pray that an 11-year-old boy gets back to where he belongs.
Not in an oncology unit.
On that football field.
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