Merced family faces setback in Son's cancer treatment as home destroyed by fire

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Merced family is facing the unimaginable after they learned their 3-year-old son's cancer treatment has stopped working, and just weeks later, their home was destroyed in a fire.

Luke Benson was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor last year. Since then, his parents have quit their jobs to care for him full-time. The family's challenges deepened when doctors recently paused Luke's treatment after it failed to bring his cancer into remission.

"He still wasn't able to reach remission," said his mother Jallussee Medina-Benson. "So his doctors gave him a non-curable diagnosis."

Luke has also been diagnosed with HLH, a rare and life-threatening blood disease. Despite enduring multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, his condition has worsened.

"Going from having a two-year-old who was running and jumping and playing, and losing all of that and only getting glimpses, that's been the most challenging part," Medina-Benson said.

As the family grappled with the devastating news, tragedy struck again. A fire, believed to have been started by a candle, tore through their home. Medina-Benson said her husband was able to get all of their children out safely, but the family lost everything inside.

"I got a call from my husband saying that our house is on fire," Medina-Benson said. "They were waiting at our neighborhood friend's house."

The United Way has stepped in to help the family secure temporary housing.

Despite the back-to-back tragedies, Medina-Benson said her children's resilience has kept them going.

"Life moves on, I guess," Medina-Benson said. "The only thing that has gotten us through it as parents has been seeing how resilient and determined our kids are, and how brave they've been."

A GoFundMe campaign originally launched to help send Luke to Disneyland is now being used to replace items lost in the fire. Still, the family hopes to fulfill Luke's dream of visiting the theme park.

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