At 16 years old, Dalton has faced more battles than most people will ever encounter in a lifetime. In July 2014 – at the age of 13 – Dalton was diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT), an aggressive malignant neoplasm that occurs in adolescents and young adults.

Prior to his diagnosis, he was an active teenager who spent much of his free time playing competitive basketball. He had no symptoms of disease. During a visit to the doctor’s office for a stomach virus, Dalton’s pediatrician discovered a lump in his abdomen.  

After several tests, Dalton and his family received his diagnosis. DSRCT is most commonly found in the abdomen, but Dalton’s had spread to his pelvis and neck area, also infecting many lymph nodes. 
Dalton has had several treatments throughout the past three years: 33 rounds of chemo, three resection surgeries, 30 rounds of abdominal radiation and several hospital stays along the way. 
In 2015, Dalton and his family traveled to MD Anderson in Houston for his first resection surgery and radiation. During that visit, they were away from their home for three months. They made the trip back to Houston again later that year for a second resection surgery.

This summer, Dalton and his family were travelling to Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City. He underwent another surgery there where surgeons resected a tumor from his liver and pelvis. He also started an immunotherapy trial that is intended for another cancer, Neuroblastoma. The two cancers share the same target for this therapy, and Dalton is the first patient with DSRCT to try this treatment. Unfortunatly this treatment wasn’t what they hoped and the family has to look for a new treatment since his scans showed cancer has returned to his liver, lungs and other areas of his mid-section.

Dalton has decided to keep fighting, and they are deciding what his next treatment plan will include.  
Throughout his brutally long journey, Dalton has stayed strong and positive. According to his mother, Dalton is the strongest, bravest person she has ever known – not to mention – one of the biggest KU fans out there! 

To help offset some of the medical and travel costs, Damon’s Rally Cap recently presented Dalton and his family with a donation.

Stay strong D-Ray. We’re all rooting for you!

Sadly, Dalton lost hisr battle to cancer on April 25, 2019 at only 17.