FAIRMONT — Cancer is a battle no one should have to fight, but it’s especially difficult to hear in young children.

Sadly, that battle is currently being waged by the family of 4-year-old Otto Anderson. A benefit for Otto will be held from noon to 9 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Eagles Club in Fairmont.

Otto’s mother Ashlynn shared his story.

“On June 23, Otto had stayed the night at his grandma’s house,” she said. “She called us the next morning and told us that Otto was really sick and his symptoms were a tummy ache and a fever. I knew right away he had strep throat because whenever he gets those symptoms it’s strep throat, which he had had a lot of going on through the winter.

“I told her to give him some medicine for the fever and that I would come get him and take him to urgent care to get some antibiotics. He couldn’t break the fever that whole week, but I didn’t take him back in because we had a checkup for him coming up and I had the week off because we were planning for our new baby. So I was going to take him in for that, but we didn’t make it.

“That next Sunday, he woke up with such a high fever and he was really sick, so I took him back in to urgent care again and asked for a stronger antibiotic. Eventually, he was negative for strep, but he kept getting these random fevers at night. On July 10, I took him back in to test for strep again, and it still came back negative.”

At that time, it was determined that Otto had developed a viral infection and it would just take him some time to bounce back.

“We didn’t go back to the doctor because there were no other symptoms other than fevers and being tired,” Ashlynn said. “On July 23, he had a summer preschool camp event he was doing and when I picked him up the teacher said he was really tired. He slept that whole afternoon and evening and spiked a fever that night.”

The next day, Otto returned for the conclusion of his camp event, seemingly back to his normal self. However, Ashlynn was informed that Otto was very pale. At the next appointment, a blood draw was scheduled and that is when things came to a head.

“We went to Dairy Queen after the draw and when we were on our way out, the clinic called me back and asked me to come back right now,” Ashlynn said. “I tried calling my husband and I was crying at that point because they don’t ask you to come back if it’s good news.

“When I got to the hospital they told me that his blood levels were off and he needed to be admitted that night to see a hematologist. I was told they couldn’t diagnose him, but his test results were consistant with leukemia. That’s when I lost it completely and started crying.”

From there, the family got Otto to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. There they would learn that Otto had ALL (acute lymphocytic leukemia) B-cell.

“When we got there, we were told by the doctor that he knew Otto had leukemia already, because his bone marrow was 89 percent full of leukemia and the cells were spilling out into his blood. So because it was in his blood, they could tell right away.”

Otto began treatment right away, which is expected to last for three years. Ashlynn explained that there is plenty of hope because Otto’s form of cancer is the most common form for children his age, meaning that doctors are fairly adept at treating it.

“Right now he’s technically in remission, which means they can’t detect cancer in his body,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that there’s none at all, but that’s why we continue the chemotherapy.”

As for the benefit, there will be a donation meal, silent auction and raffle. Ashlynn said she is appreciative of her family’s hard work in organizing the event. She and her husband are also thankful for the support they have received.

“This community is so amazing,” she said. “When families go through such hard times they’re there and we’ve had so many people praying for us and so many people with donations helping us along. I’d already missed a month of work, I can’t go back to work until he’s done with his intensive chemo because it’s not safe for him, and we’d just had a new baby.

“It’s been unreal with all the support we’ve had, and I can’t say just how thankful we are for it.”