It’s almost Christmas. But Amanda Faulkner and her husband, Jay, aren’t thinking about presents.

“What we have, we’ll be happy with,” Amanda Faulkner said during a telephone interview from her son’s room at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The Faulkners’ 5-year-old son, Christian, who’s battling cancer, has been hospitalized since Friday.

“We had him at home, but he was losing weight and I couldn’t get him to eat – I did everything I could but sit on him and force it down him,” Amanda Faulkner said.

Before his cancer was detected, Christian weighed 46 pounds. He weighed 32 pounds late last week.

“He’s skin and bones,” Amanda Faulkner said, noting that doctors had inserted a feeding tube.

“We’re being told this is treatable and curable,” she said, “but as a mother, it’s hard for me to think this is going to go away.”

Amanda Faulkner stands in front of Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday afternoon, clutching a photo of her 5-year-old son, Christian, who is battling cancer. He has been hospitalized since Friday.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, doctors found a tumor on top of Christian’s lungs.

“We started chemotherapy that night,” Faulkner said. “The tumor seems to be responding, but now they’re worried about his kidneys.”

The Faulkners, too, have many worries. They’re not rich – she works at a daycare center, he’s a security guard – and commuting to the hospital in Kansas City, Mo., is more than they can afford.

Neither of their aging vehicles can handle too many more trips, and they can’t afford the rent on their three-bedroom house, which they share with Jay’s 14-year-old daughter, Amanda Jean.

“I’ve missed a lot of hours (work) because of this,” Amanda Faulkner said. “I don’t know what my next paycheck is going to look like.”

Faulkner’s co-workers at One Of A Kind Daycare, 4640 W. 27th St., have adopted the family for Christmas. And a fund for helping offset expenses has been set up with First State Bank & Trust, 3901 W. Sixth St.

“Our Christmases have never been big or extravagant, and that’s just fine with us,” Faulkner said. “But if people want to help, it would be great if they donate to that account.”

Christian’s medical bills are covered by the family’s participation in HealthWave, the state’s health insurance program for low-income families.

“If it wasn’t for HealthWave, I’d be freaking by now,” Amanda Faulkner said. “It’s hard enough as it is.”

Christian Faulkner

Teachers, students and parents at Sunflower Elementary have been quietly raising money for the Faulkners.

“This really knocked us off our feet,” said Christian’s kindergarten teacher, Nancy Scott. “At first we thought he had asthma – the next thing you know, he’s in chemo. It’s things like this that make you go home and kiss your own kids.”

Christian’s classmates have drawn a get-well mural for his room. They’re also standing by with hats and surgical masks.

“We’ve been told that when Christian comes back, he may not have his hair and he may have to wear a mask,” Scott said. “So the kids have decided they’ll wear hats or masks (to show their solidarity). The family has sent us a box of masks to practice on.”

A Kansas University basketball player sent something, too.

“Christian Moody is Christian’s all-time favorite basketball player because they have the same name,” Amanda Faulkner said. “We have a friend of a friend who knows somebody at the athletic department. He got him to sign a book and a poster for him.”