Cards Wanted for Boy with Leukemia

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) - How far would you go to put a smile on the face of a little boy who is battling cancer? Joey Caretti is on his third battle against the disease and his friends and family aren't asking for money. Instead, they're asking that you drop a card in the mail to help him stay strong while he fights for his life.

Joey read to us from what looked like just a pile of cards.

"I have to admit it really does make me happy," he said.

However, to this eleven-year-old, it was support he needed while he battled a rare form of brain cancer not once, but twice over the last three years.

"They said we would never see this again, that it would be gone and we were just counting our blessings, and then in April of 2010, he had another seizure here at the house and they found another brain tumor," said Lisa Caretti, Joey's mother.

In August, Joey and his mom thought the fight was over, so they celebrated only to learn the unthinkable a few months later. A chemotherapy drug he took for his brain cancer caused Joey to get leukemia.

"It was only a two-percent chance, so we took the two-percent chance," Lisa Caretti said. "You wonder if you made the wrong choice, but really there was no other way."

Joey now faces more chemotherapy and needs a bone marrow transplant, which could be risky.

"It's almost guaranteed at one point he'll have to be in one or more times in the hospital for fevers or infection because they bring your resistance down to nothing so they can built it back up again," Lisa Caretti explained.

"I just hope I can get this done with," said Joey Caretti.

A card challenge has been started by Laura Pokas of Macomb Township.  The goal is to get Joey a thousand get well soon cards while he fights leukemia. You can send them to the following address.

Send cards to:
Joey Caretti
c/o 22671 Eddy Drive
Macomb, MI 48044