Coronavirus: Dayton teenager tests negative, chemo next, Mom says

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Seventeen-year-old Gaven Daniel so far has avoided having to engage in a battle with COVID-19. Now all he wants to do is get to Cincinnati Children's Hospital at the end of this week, where he hopes to win another critical battle -- his war against bone cancer.

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"He's holding up," his mother, Katie Daniel, said Monday night. "Before, he was kind of excited. Now, he's stuck in the house and it's of taking its toll."

On the day the Chaminade-Julienne junior basketball player was supposed to begin chemotherapy, he awoke with a fever, said Lyssa Johnston, Daniel’s sister-in-law, who started a GoFundMe page for Gaven.

The fever led to the test for COVID-19, which came back negative.

Mom said if all goes well this week, Gaven will begin a bone marrow procedure Wednesday and then comes Friday's medical procedure.

"This is just all in the works," Mom said.

The GoFundMe page was necessitated by the fact that neither she nor her husband are working. Her gig shut down because her job was not considered "essential" under the state's definition.

"I'm the bread-winner," Daniels said, noting she'll go with Gaven to the hospital. Dad will stay home with Gaven's youngest sibling.

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