Aiden Bartley is a typical 9-year-old boy. A fourth-grader at McQuiston Elementary School, he loves to play dek hockey and hockey video games.

What sets Aiden apart is he’s one of only two children in the United States to be diagnosed with the adult form of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a cancer of the pancreas.

His mother, Megan Bartley, said this type of cancer is incredibly difficult to detect. In Aiden’s case, she said by the time the cancer was correctly identified, “it had spread to the liver and the lymph nodes surrounding the pancreas, so it’s considered stage 4.”

Aiden’s journey from dek hockey games to rounds of chemotherapy began in October when he had an upset stomach.

“We thought it was just nerves or acid reflux,” said his mother. She and her husband, Mike Bartley, scheduled an appointment with a gastroenterologist when Aiden didn’t get better.

But two days before his appointment, Aiden turned jaundiced which led to a quick trip to the emergency room.

“We first thought it was acute pancreatitis. They did a bunch of tests. They thought it might be an autoimmune disease,” Megan Bartley said. “They tried a CT scan and saw the tumor on the pancreas pushing against the bile duct.”

The Bartleys said Aiden’s doctor at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Dr. Julia Meade, a pediatric oncologist, told them that the medical community had never seen a case of adult pancreatic adenocarcinoma in a patient so young.

Megan Bartley said, “A pancreal blastoma is (not) a normal childhood cancer — he shouldn’t have that. It has no business being in a child.”

The only other known case was detected in a 13-year-old girl, so there were no protocols developed for its treatment.

This discovery sent Aiden to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh because of the unusual nature of Aiden’s case.

Mike Bartley said, “They don’t usually see children outside of the hospital, but this was an extremely rare situation.” He said UPMC Presbyterian has a reputation for having the best pancreatic specialists on staff.

The treatment plan Aiden’s doctors worked out called for chemotherapy to shrink the tumor on his pancreas. During the week of Nov. 7, he had a port installed to allow for the introduction of drugs. And on Nov. 8 he started his first round of chemotherapy.

The course of treatment Aiden is undergoing is grueling. He has three eight-hour chemotherapy sessions over three days every two weeks.

Following his chemotherapy sessions, Aiden goes home wearing a backpack connected to his port to supply him with more drugs for an additional two days.

The treatment leaves him with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. His mother said it also leaves him agitated emotionally and exhausted physically.

The plan is to see if the chemotherapy can shrink the tumor on his pancreas until the next part of the treatment, which will be surgery to remove his pancreas, part of his liver and the lymph nodes surrounding the pancreas.

Even in a best-case scenario, the surgery will mean Aiden will be a diabetic and must take insulin for the rest of his life.

For now, Aiden recovers from rounds of chemotherapy and takes classes remotely at home.

The Bartleys said Aiden has gotten cards and letters from around the world as his situation became known through social media.

Tanya Diable of Butler Township brought her award-winning therapy dog Boone for a visit. Boone is a therapy dog who uses a wheeled cart after a former owner cut off his back legs.

And his classmates at McQuiston Elementary School haven’t forgotten him.

The school sent him a special oversized get-well card signed by every student at the school, an effort spearheaded by art teacher Jill Widenhofer.

It’s been an abrupt and frightening change in the lives of the Bartleys, Aiden and his sister and brother, Carmella, 4, and Jack, 2.

Aiden went from playing dek hockey to undergoing chemotherapy in the space of a month. His parents got a crash course in medical terms, procedures and cancer cell counts.

Connie Wetzel, Megan Bartley’s mother, said, “It’s been very hard on the family. Mike goes to Aiden’s treatment. He sometimes stays overnight. The younger kids don’t know where Daddy’s at, where’s Aiden at.”

The Bartley family is going into the holiday season with cautious optimism.

Megan Bartley said, “For now, it appears to be working. They’ve been taking a very aggressive approach to chemotherapy.”

Mike Bartley said, “They may continue chemotherapy after the surgery. There’s no research on this. They’re basically flying blind. This has never been heard of in a child.”

Mike Bartley, who’s a credit analyst for NexTier Bank at Butler’s NexTier Center, has set up an account for the family at the bank. The Bartleys have also set up a GoFundMe page, an Amazon wish list and an Aiden’s Journey Facebook page to keep people informed on the 9-year-old’s progress.

The family is also working with the Make-A-Wish to make Aiden’s wish for a trip to Disney World a reality.

To help raise money, the Bartleys are going to have a live drawing for a $1,200 snowblower on Aiden’s Journey Facebook page on Dec. 23.

There are also plans underway for a fundraiser tentatively scheduled for February.

For now, his parents are just focused on helping Aiden through this stage of his treatment.

Megan Bartley said, “He can be very blunt. He can get agitated. One time he said, ‘Do you know what they call people who take this much blood? Murderers.’”

She added Aiden doesn’t quite grasp the severity of his condition.

His grandmother, Connie Wetzel, said. “He knows he has cancer. He knows he has to get chemo. That’s all he needs to know.”