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Kno’lan M. has places to be.

There are monster trucks to watch, episodes of Bluey to catch, and an older brother to simultaneously adore and argue with. There are blankets and balls and, perhaps most importantly, milk — something his mom, Candice, says the almost-three-year-old simply cannot go without.

“He’s just a really spunky kid,” she said. “He keeps the days alive for sure.”

And then there are the places no toddler should know so well: hospital rooms, chemotherapy appointments, specialists’ offices and trips hundreds of miles from the family’s home in Nebraska.

For most of Kno’lan’s life, Candice has learned to make room for all of it.

She first knew something wasn’t right when Kno’lan was just three weeks old. Lines appeared across his gums. Soon, they began splitting, filling with pus and developing holes. He had blood in his stool, choking spasms and painful skin lesions.

Candice kept asking questions.

When answers didn’t come, she found specialists herself. Five months after Kno’lan was born, a biopsy finally provided a diagnosis: Langerhans cell histiocytosis, or LCH, a rare cancer that, in Kno’lan’s case, has affected multiple systems throughout his body.

It was the beginning of a medical journey that has been anything but straightforward.

Kno’lan began chemotherapy in February 2024 and was declared in remission that August. By November, the LCH was back. He fought through another recurrence, only for biopsies in 2025 to confirm it had returned yet again — his third battle before his second birthday. Along the way came a G-tube, aspiration issues, seizures and an epilepsy diagnosis.

Through it all, Candice became more than Kno’lan’s mom. She became his researcher, his advocate and, when necessary, the person willing to keep asking the question no one else seemed to be asking.

What else can we do?

That persistence eventually led the family to an LCH specialist in Texas and a new treatment plan. It also turned Candice into an advocate for other families, sharing what she has learned about the rare disease and encouraging parents to keep searching when symptoms don’t add up.

“I’ve had to save my own son,” she said. “My whole role of this life now is saving people and advocating.”

But cancer doesn’t just take up space on a medical calendar. It rearranges an entire family.

Kno’lan’s older brother, Junior, has grown up alongside hospital stays and long stretches away from his mom and little brother. Candice has watched him become deeply aware of cancer and illness at an age when most kids are worried about far simpler things.

So when the family decided to homeschool, it gave them something precious: room.

Room for appointments and travel. Room for hard days and good ones. Room for Junior, who has autism and ADHD, to learn at his own pace. Room for Kno’lan to receive the care he needs without forcing the rest of their lives into a schedule that simply doesn’t fit.

“We can do school whenever and wherever,” Candice explained. “We’re not fitting our schedule into school.”

The brothers now have their own learning stations, attend co-ops together and, between the normal sibling squabbles, genuinely enjoy being classmates.

Junior tells his mom, “I love learning with Kno’lan.”

When the family first reached out to Chive Charities, they asked for help covering travel to Kno’lan’s specialists. But rare disease life changes quickly, and by the time their grant was approved, those travel expenses had been covered.

So we asked a different question: Where could we make room now?

The answer was at home.

Thanks to your support, Chive Charities provided $1,739 in homeschooling supplies, giving Candice more tools to create an education around her sons’ individual needs — and a little more breathing room in a life already carrying so much.

For Kno’lan, there are still plenty of appointments ahead. But there are victories, too. After years of hard work, he graduated from physical therapy. After once communicating through sign language, he can now speak in words and sentences. After relying on a G-tube, he can safely chew and swallow food again.

And most days?

He’s busy being Kno’lan.

Spunky. Funny. Monster-truck-loving. Milk-drinking. Learning beside his big brother and keeping the days alive.

Families navigating rare medical diagnoses spend so much of their lives making room for the unexpected. Your donation to Chive Charities helps us meet them there — whether that means transportation, medical equipment, accessibility needs or, sometimes, a classroom built around two brothers and the life their family is fighting hard to protect.

Donate today and help us make room for what families like Kno’lan’s need most. DONATE HERE.