Fullerton resident Daniel Bustle was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when he was 3 years old. “He wanted to lay down all the time, was crankier than usual, and didn’t want to eat,” his mother, Karin explained, “That is when we began to suspect something was not right.”

Daniel Bustle with his brother at Laguna Lake.

Standard therapies range from surgery and radiation for low-risk patients to chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, and immunotherapy for high-risk patients.

However, in Daniel’s case, it became evident that these therapies were ineffective. The tumors were growing. Karin and Dave turned to Dr. Araz Marachelian at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles who enrolled Daniel in multiple trials. Though the trials reduced and slowed the tumors they could not save him.

“Our son, Daniel, died on February 5th, 2021, He was 6 years old,” Daniel’s father, Dave said.

“We did not want another family to suffer. We asked Dr. Marachelian what we could do and She directed us to New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT),” Karin stated.

The NANT consortium is a group of universities and children’s hospitals with research and treatment programs specifically for neuroblastoma. As Karin and Dave explained, “We decided to help raise awareness and funds, so that they might one day find a cure and it will be Daniel’s Legacy. We don’t need anything, but there are a lot of families that will benefit from funds raised to find a cure.”

“Mayor Whitaker will adjourn the March 16 Council meeting in Daniel’s memory.  The meeting can be watched live on the website www.cityoffullerton.com and go to the City Clerk tab, go to City Council meetings click 3/16/21 date and click on the video for live broadcast,” said Karin.

You can contribute to a neuroblastoma  fundraiser by visiting www.chla.org then click on the ‘ways to help” tab and “find a fundraising page” where you can put in Daniel Bustle, their son’s name: connect.chla.org/goto/danielbustle.