SPRINGDALE, Ark. — A local 10-year-old boy was diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago and has now been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Riley Duckworth can no longer receive his chemo treatments ever since being diagnosed with COVID-19, but he's still in good spirits.
“I’m doing perfectly fantastic,” Riley said.
Riley was diagnosed with leukemia on February 5. He continues to put a smile on his face every day and fights through childhood cancer.
“Riley just finished his second round of chemo and his counts have dropped from that. But since he has tested positive for COVID it’s going to put his chemo off and we are not exactly sure how long,” his dad Jeremy said.
Right now, the father, son duo are quarantined in their hospital room while they wait for Riley's blood count to recover.
“We have been in pretty strict quarantine since then," Jeremy said. "Our whole family is in quarantine. My wife and our other son is at the house and Riley and I are here at the hospital.”
As the two pass the time together, they make sure they're having a good time.
“We try to bug each other as much as we can," Jeremy said. "He picks on me a lot. We play some games, we watch a lot of TV, and some video games as well. He’s supposed to read and do school work but you see how that goes.”
The family says they believe Riley was exposed to COVID-19 in mid-March, something they did everything to try to prevent.
“For him to contract COVID in the cancer unit, which is one of the most cleanest and lockdown units in the hospital, it just shows you how contagious it really is,” Jeremy said.
It's an uncertain and scary time for the Duckworth's, but Riley says he's looking forward to the time he feels better and can get outside.
“I want to go camping," Riley said.
Jeremy says although Riley's chemo treatment has been pushed back, they don't anticipate any real problems with the delay.