The veteran's sole focus turned to raising his son, and he and his now nine-year-old son Ayden became “inseparable.”
Growing up, Ayden was constantly moving and loved playing sports. In fact, the nine-year-old didn't meet a sport he didn't like and up until August 2016, he participated in football, basketball, and wrestling.
Ayden was in the middle of football practice one August day when he collapsed.
Doctors initially believed that he was suffering from a concussion, but when he continued to deteriorate — he lost motor and verbal skills — doctors diagnosed Ayden with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG).
Boston Children's Hospital further explains the condition:
Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas are highly aggressive and difficult to treat brain tumors found at the base of the brain. They are glial tumors, meaning they arise from the brain's glial tissue—tissue made up of cells that help support and protect the brain's neurons. These tumors are found in an area of the brainstem called the pons, which controls many of the body's most vital functions such as breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate.
Ayden has two of these types of tumors: one in his cerebellum and another in his brain stem.
When he was diagnosed in August, doctors gave him 12 months to live. At that point, Bill began trying to save his son's life, like Ayden had saved his.
Bill told the York Daily Record that he spent the first months after his son's diagnosis applying for every clinical trial he could, but every time, they were denied.
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