St. Jude Dream Home: Meet Elias

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) -- A Springfield family is grateful they can continue their son’s cancer treatment at home thanks to the massive network from St. Jude.

7-year-old Elias can continue his cancer treatment at home after fighting the toughest part of his battle at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

He can still get top-of-the-line care because Springfield has one of eight St. Jude-affiliated clinics across our country.

“Elias is one of the happiest kids I’ve ever met,” said Elias’ dad, Jeremiah Smith.

Even at a young age, his parents, Jeremiah and Kelsie, share that Elias is very independent. So independent that most mornings, Elias was already in the kitchen with his day well underway.

“All by himself, dressed, having his first breakfast of the day and having his second one at school,” said Kelsie Young Smith, Elias’ mom.

More than a year ago, their world turned upside down. On an average Monday, Kelsie was helping Elias get dressed and saw that his stomach was hard and sticking out on one side.

She called her husband to come look. Then their pediatrician looked, and from there the week escalated quickly.

“ ‘Day one,’ we were seeing a doctor by ‘day four’ we were on our way to Memphis with a cancer diagnosis,” recalled Jeremiah.

The family said their goodbyes to their younger kids and lives in Springfield.

“Within a day, we had dropped our dogs off at my parents, dropped the big kids off at Kelsie’s parents, and found somebody to mow our yard and hit the road,” said Jeremiah.

By 2 a.m. Friday, they arrived at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

It was a tumor on Elias’s kidney. Once they arrived at St. Jude, they learned it was lymphoma.

The family ended up staying in Memphis for almost five months for treatment. At times, their family of five was nearly three hundred miles apart.

With many things to worry about and their youngest child fighting cancer, their family shared that they are grateful for St. Jude.

“We’re very thankful, thankful to have them in our lives,” shared Jeremiah.

They said St. Jude made sure they didn’t have to think about bills or places to stay.

“We’re not worried about losing our house, making car payments, and thankfully, we got to keep our jobs, so there wasn’t much of a disruption there, but it’s all because of St Jude,” shared Kelsie.

His parents share that Elias is on the long road to recovery and making great progress. He wrapped up a long stretch of treatments in April at St. Jude.

When asked what he thinks of St. Jude, Elias responded enthusiastically: “The best place ever!!”

Now their family is all back together at home in Springfield, in part thanks to St. Jude’s large network.

“You never want your kid to have cancer, but the fact we were able to have an affiliate here in Springfield and now we can just get treatment from home, when we can, is just such a blessing to us,” said Jeremiah.

Elias recently celebrated his seventh birthday during one of his weekly treatment days in Springfield.

He’s ecstatic about being in summer school. Thanks to programs at St. Jude, which included weekly STEM labs and one-on-one instruction and the support of his teacher at Field Elementary in Springfield, Elias stayed on track in first grade, so he is ready to enter second grade this fall.

“I often say that I could donate my entire paycheck to St. Jude for the rest of my life. I would. Because I really think it’s that great of a place,” said Jeremiah.

“They have cared for us from the very beginning, before we even got to Memphis. It started here in Springfield, and it’s meant everything,” said Kelsie.

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