MARION COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – Community members in Marion County came together for those how have suffered from Leukemia or have lost their battle.
“Both my son and Tanner had leukemia,” said Katie Rogers, whose son was diagnosed with leukemia.
Tanner Buffkin was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia at the beginning of the year, but just months later he lost his battle. Now the Buffkin family is raising awareness for Tanner.
“We’re going to different functions and events just to spread leukemia awareness since we lost our son August 15,” said Kammy Buffkin, Tanner’s mom.
The Buffkin family weren’t the only ones in attendance.
“When he was two years old we found out he had a softball size mass on the side of his lung which happen to be a type of lung cancer,” said Rogers.
Since the diagnosis, the family endured many long days filled with doctor appointments and treatments, but unfortunately for the Roger family it didn’t stop there.
“He did his chemo and his radiation and then we found out he had relapsed with leukemia, so we had to get bone marrow transplant and so far he’s a year and half in remission,” said Rogers.
The Tanner’s and Roger’s now want to advocate for those dealing with similar circumstances.
“It really is hard because you don’t expect your two-year-old to have cancer and you think it’s not your kid, but it happens and it can happen to anybody,” said Rogers.
