In September 2007, Toby was diagnosed with Stage 4 hepatoblastoma at 11 months old and was only given a 10% chance of survival. Over the next year he underwent 6 rounds of chemotherapy, two lung surgeries and two liver transplants. On August 5, 2008, Toby became very sick and was admitted to Children’s, and by August 8, 2008 he had lost so much fluid from vomiting and diarrhea that he became hypovolemic and went into cardiac arrest. He survived all this only to wake up with global ischemic anoxic brain injury resulting in cerebral palsy. Toby is currently going to speech, occupational, and physical therapy twice a week. With hopes of the positive results from others, Toby was referred to a physical therapist facility that offers Lokomat therapy (machine he is pictured with). Unfortunately, this facility does not accept Medicaid or the insurance his family has so the treatment has been very expensive. The Extra Step has provided Toby’s family with financial assistance to cover multiple therapy visits so that he may continue his treatment without any lapse in service.
