Karen Kistler
karen.kistler@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Always in the best of spirits and with a very strong faith, Jamon Tavio King is facing a battle with a very rare leukemia called T-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; however, it hasn’t daunted his outlook and he keeps smiling and in high spirits.
King, 16, of Salisbury was initially diagnosed with the rare leukemia in January 2023 when he was an eighth grader at Erwin Middle School and entered Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem where over the next nine months received chemotherapy, blood and platelets. He went into remission in October 2023.
It was in May 2024 that the leukemia relapsed and he entered the hospital again, going through more chemo, which put him in remission again. He was then transferred to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte where he received a bone marrow transplant in September 2024. This put him into remission until Aug. 25.
“We’ve been on this roller coaster ride this time since August 2025,” said King’s mom, Felicia Rivens Archie.
He is also the son of Tavio King and the stepson to Harvey Archie and Karen King.
After a time at Levine again, he was taken to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where, it was noted in his biography, several of the treatments they had to offer may work well with Jamon’s leukemia. He entered on Oct. 23 and remains a patient.
Archie said that the hospital has a school in it and he is taking classes there; prior to that, he was attending East Rowan High School.
“We transitioned him to that so that he would have some onsite teachers and things like that,” said Archie. “It just has been easier in trying to get school work completed.”
While he is at the hospital, King enjoys doing other things just like a typical teenager, his mom said, such as shooting hoops at the goal and rim on the floor at the hospital, Legos, video games, playing cards and games with his friends.
His mom said he has some good friends in North Carolina that FaceTime and they play a couple times a week and talk every couple days, she said, “so they can see what he’s looking like.”
The family attends Promise City Church in Salisbury and he likes to cook, feeding the less fortunate and to volunteer when able at nursing homes. He has also volunteered with Gemstones and Compass Leadership Academy, among others.
His plans are to go to college to become a pediatric oncology nurse.
Archie said that her son isn’t down and doesn’t let you cry and when the news hasn’t seemed the best, his response is “you know, it will be alright y’all will figure it out.”
That is what he told them at MD Anderson when some tests didn’t go as anticipated: “It’s OK, I’m really complicated but y’all will figure it out. I trust you’ll figure it out.”
Quite the cheerleader, King will sit with the nurses at their station.
“He thinks they’re his coworkers,” said Archie.
When he and his mom go out for a walk, she said he is always complimenting others about something, from their shoes to their glasses.
“He’s just out to brighten everybody,” she said as she said other parents wish their children could be that way and get out and talk to people.
“But everybody’s different, and he’s just got that great kind of personality,” said Archie.
In his biography, it notes that there was a trial on hold by the FDA that King’s doctor hoped he would be a candidate for, but he no longer meets the criteria for the treatment. However, there is a treatment that the doctors in Houston spoke about with the family that is in Rome that they feel confident King will be able to get into.
It is a two-month stem cell transplant that Archie said would take his cells, treat them and put them back in his system to fight off all the T-cell leukemia.
This specialized treatment is reported to have a 100-percent success rate and ideally would put him in total remission. Afterward, he would go back to Houston for a bone marrow transplant; and with the “stem cell transplant and bone marrow transplant that would put him in total remission,” Archie said.
Cost for the two-month treatment is $117,000; and while it hasn’t been approved to be administered in the United States, she said doctors said if it were, the cost would be something like $600,000.
The family is raising money to take King to Italy for the life-saving treatments with multiple ways that people can donate to help including a GoFundMe Page called “Support Jamon King’s Fight Against Leukemia.”
Cash or other payment methods can also be sent to 118 Terrace Drive, Salisbury, N.C. 28146.
“We will definitely appreciate anything big or small. No donation is too small,” said Archie. “We appreciate any assistance that anybody can give us,” adding that they are asking for prayers along with donations.
The cost of $117,000 is for the treatment, but that doesn’t cover it all, as Archie said there’s also the cost of food while there and travel to get to Italy and back, noting King would need a first-class seat so he’s not not around many other people and another first-class seat would have to be bought for someone else, as she learned you can’t come from coach to first class on an international flight to check on someone. They are estimating $150,000 as their goal to take care of things. She did say the treatment center would provide free housing for her and his dad, which is great.
“We’re minimalists,” said Archie. “It’s not to go and tour or anything like that. We’re going for healing. That’s the whole reason why we’re going.”
Archie said they want them to have all the money for the treatment before they travel. They met with the doctors Jan. 2 and King’s doctor has a goal of two months to able to get him ready to go. Therefore, the family is aiming for the end of February or early March to make the trip. The doctor currently has King in intensive therapy, extra exercises to make the approximate 16-hour flight, and he has begun a new round of chemotherapy.
Having most of the money by mid-February would put them in a good place, said Archie, noting that in addition to donations, they also have some applications for foundations that they hope will help with a sizable part of the cost.
A fundraiser was planned for last weekend at Sandy Ridge AME Zion Church where Archie grew up. They hope another can take place soon with a silent auction. One of the items auctioned off will be a Winston-Salem Dash Baseball team jersey that King designed and signed.
Archie said that her son remains “positive with an awesome spirit. He is loved by everyone who has been in his presence as he is kind, affectionate, funny and polite.”