my little cousin, iron ethan, and his parents have spent the past 10 days on the east coast seeing doctors in philadelphia and new york city for second and third opinions (and fourth and fifth and…). it’s been a really stressful time being away from home and his big brother, and they had to extend their trip to NYC at the last minute after the doctors decided they wanted to review his files with a larger team. that also meant his dad had to fly back home early while ethan and his mom stayed by themselves. yesterday was a long day with a panel of doctors and then they had to rush to catch their flight because they were running late…only for the flight to be delayed. it took forever but they finally made it back to chicago, and when they arrived home they found this waiting for him.
a gift from robert downey jr, iron man himself.
back when ethan was first diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma last summer, he had to get a port put in his chest. his parents comforted him by telling ethan that the port was just like iron man’s arc reactor: it was helping keep him alive. it was then that he earned the nickname iron ethan, both after his favorite superhero and because of how brave he was facing all of his treatments. ethan has always wanted to meet rdj, and while that wasn’t possible, a friend of the family was able to make the above happen. it has put such a huge smile on ethan’s face and it’s filled his parents with such gratitude.
i just wanted to share a little iron man happiness
