At age 11, in the final years of high school, Landon Motter was ready for a growth spurt.
When he started experiencing hip pain in the summer of 2023, doctors dismissed it as growing pains.
The Maryland family thought the pain was due to go-karting, which they did frequently during the trip.
But as the summer progressed and Landon went to school, the pain became so severe that he would wake up in the middle of the night crying. During soccer practice, his parents noticed he was limping.
A bone biopsy revealed he had stage four blood cancer that had spread to his hip bones.
Landon Motter of Maryland was 11 (left) when he was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma called anaplastic large cell lymphoma
Leading up to his diagnosis, Landon (pictured here) was an active high school student who played soccer. However, severe cramps left him limping and unable to sleep at night.
Landon’s mother, Courtney Anderson, 32, said TODAY.com: ‘I was completely devastated.’
‘When you hear the word cancer, it just blows your mind. I think, “Oh my God, what’s his life going to be like after this? Is he going to survive?”‘
Landon’s diagnosis came at a time when the US was experiencing a mysterious increase in childhood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Experts suspect that this trend is caused by exposure to environmental factors such as antibiotics, air pollution and ultra-processed foods.
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When Landon woke up in the middle of the night in pain and could no longer play soccer, his parents realized it might be more than just growing pains.
“We basically gave him Motrin around the clock. As soon as it wore off, he started crying,” Ms. Anderson said.
‘When he woke up in the middle of the night because his Motrin had worn off, we thought, “This is definitely more than growing pains. There’s no reason he should be woken up by that kind of pain.”‘
After the pediatrician discharged him, Landon’s parents took him to a sports medicine doctor, who took x-rays, but the results were normal.
An oncologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC performed blood tests, but no abnormalities were found there either.
However, the family did not accept the answer and called in more specialists.
A rheumatologist then performed a bone biopsy, which revealed stage four anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a rare form of blood cancer.
The cancer, which affects the lymphatic system, is likely not detected by blood tests because lymphoma cells are not circulating in the blood in sufficient numbers to be detected by blood tests.
Landon’s father, Blake Motter, told TODAY.com, “We went to five to seven different doctors before we were able to do the bone biopsy.”
“(It was) just horrible. It’s tough. When you hear cancer, you immediately assume your child is going to die.”
ALCL occurs when disease-fighting white blood cells attack the lymphatic system, a group of organs and tissues, such as bone marrow and lymph nodes, that help the immune system fight threats.
This chart highlights some of the lesser-known signs of childhood cancer, including early/late puberty, developmental delays, slow growth, slow healing from bone injuries, limited or abnormal facial movements, and hearing problems.
Landon, pictured here getting his first post-chemo haircut, is now cancer-free and in seventh grade. He plans to stay active and play football and soccer
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma affects about 800 American children each year, and about one in 100 will be diagnosed with Landon’s subtype. And as with Landon’s, most children are diagnosed at later stages, when symptoms can mask other common conditions.
He underwent six rounds of chemotherapy, each requiring a minimum stay of five days in the hospital. Although he told his parents that the hospital was “driving him crazy,” he never complained.
“He just knew he had to do this to save his life,” Anderson said.
It’s unclear what causes his illness, but experts estimate that children like Landon develop lymphoma due to genetics or a weakened immune system.
Landon has been cancer-free since this spring, although he still has to undergo regular checkups to see if the disease has returned. It is estimated that one in ten patients like Landon will have a relapse at some point.
He is now 12 years old, in seventh grade and would like to join the soccer team.
“For Landon, this was really just a bump in the road, but physically he feels great,” Anderson said.