Riley's flashlight homecoming

HAYDEN — Flashlights and colorful LED bulbs lit up as more than 40 people began to chant, "Riley! Riley! Riley!"

The 14-year-old Riley Stevens stepped onto his front porch surrounded by his family Saturday night. He smiled and crossed his arms in surprise as he realized all these people had gathered in the rain in front of his house to welcome him home with cheers and Christmas carols.

"Way to go bud! We love you, Lead Warrior! Welcome home bud!" one woman yelled to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Good!" he answered.

"How's your bed?" another person asked.

"Really good," he answered, as several people laughed with delight.

The family — and their many friends — are rejoicing about the return of Riley, who has been in Boston for a bone marrow transplant since late July. He was diagnosed with aplastic anemia when he was only 11. It's a rare a condition that occurs when bone marrow stops producing enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets for the body. Only 900 new cases of aplastic anemia are diagnosed in the United States each year.

"It's nice because he's been gone," said Tyler Rieken, 17, of Hayden, who is in Boy Scout Troop 201 with Riley. "It's nice to have him back, and we know his story about how his bone marrow transplant went. Every Tuesday night we face-timed him."

"I think it makes him feel loved," Boy Scout Brennan Jorgensen, 17, of Coeur d'Alene, said of the welcoming event. "He's been through a way tougher time than anybody his age should go through. Just knowing he has that support will help him get through what he's going through."

Riley's procedure was conducted Sept. 3. He beat the odds and was able to come home ahead of schedule on Thursday, rather than by Easter, as originally thought.

"He's just doing so well," said Riley's mom, Katie, who stayed in a Ronald McDonald House to be near him during his stay in Boston Children's Hospital. "It really is pretty miraculous."

Riley's best friend, Ben Lambert, 14, of Hayden, was front and center during the flashlight homecoming. He said he is excited to have his best friend back, especially knowing that "you can't predict the results in the beginning."

"It's going to be a lot better than video-chatting with him," he said. "It's going to be better to actually have real conversations face-to-face ... it's pretty amazing."

Riley smiled the entire time people chanted his name and serenaded him while waving their flashlights. It was the first time he had seen many of his friends in months.

"It made me really happy," he said.

Riley has been living with a vulnerable immune system as he has undergone immunosuppressive drug therapy and chemotherapy procedures. Katie wrote on Riley's Bone Marrow Transplant GoFundMe webpage that "Riley's genetics are playing a part in his failure to respond fully. He has short telomeres. They are the tail-end of the DNA and, to put it simply, his cells are aging rapidly and he isn't able to make new stable cells."

Katie said it was thanks to a generous 24-year-old German man that Riley received a perfect match for bone marrow and blood. Katie said he gave almost two liters, the largest amount of donated blood and marrow the doctors had seen in 30 years.

"He was really accommodating," she said, explaining that the donor was willing to do whatever he needed to help out. They will have a chance to meet him in two years.

"That kid really bled for my kid," she said.

Now, after a successful bone marrow transplant, Riley will continue to have a susceptible immune system, but it will rebuild over time. He will be in isolation until next September to prevent exposure to any illnesses as his body accepts the transplant and grows stronger. He'll be continuing his freshman year at Coeur d'Alene High School from home.

"His body is (basically) a newborn baby," Katie said. "He has a really good garden bed, but he just doesn’t have any flowers right now."

Katie, her husband, Josh, and their four kids — Riley, Olivia, Ethan and Greyson — have been on an emotional, financial and physical roller coaster throughout Riley's diagnosis and treatment. To have Riley home and feeling like a normal kid again has been a huge relief for the tight-knit family. Katie said she will be advocating and serving as a voice for aplastic anemia as she educates people about the disease.

In the meantime, she and the rest of the family are celebrating having their eldest boy home.

"I’m really glad I have more chapters to add to my book,” Riley said.