The Boy Who Beat Cancer With Sloths By His Side
When we started working in the research and conservation of sloths, we understood the importance of these animals within the rainforests and ecosystems they inhabit. From a biological and ecological perspective, sloths are considered a flagship species: protecting them helps protect countless other species and the habitat they all depend on.
But back then, we never imagined sloths would become important far beyond nature.
Over the years, we’ve received messages from people all around the world telling us why sloths matter in their lives. People on the autism spectrum. People living with disabilities. Burnt out people, anxious people, people who simply found comfort in sloths, people who saw themselves reflected in them in one way or another.
Today we want to tell the heartwarming story of Carter, an 8-year-old boy from Arizona.
Carter’s mother, Krystal, first contacted us during one of the hardest moments a family can face: Carter was undergoing treatment for brain cancer. And somewhere in the middle of hospital stays, chemotherapy, fear, uncertainty, and exhaustion… sloths entered the picture.
A sloth named Tender
Tender is one of the wild sloths monitored through our Urban Sloth Project in Costa Rica. Like many of the sloths we study, Tender lives in an urbanized area, navigating fragmented forest, roads, powerlines, dogs, and all the complicated realities of coexistence between wildlife and people.
“Tender has given Carter something positive to focus on during hospital stays, chemotherapy, and hard days.”-Krystal
Tender the sloth
But then one day, Tender entered a private property, and we lost track of him. Now, this is relatively normal in field research. Sometimes, for reasons beyond us, we have to stop monitoring a sloth. We explained what happened to Tender in this update.
So to us, it was a rare, but completely normal and possible situation. But for Carter, it was heartbreaking.
“Carter was very upset and heartbroken, as following Tender has become part of his routine and something he looks forward to when things feel overwhelming. I’m talking, every single morning we log in to check for him.”
Following Tender had become more than just watching an animal online. It became stability, and a small daily ritual that made difficult days softer. So we introduced Carter to the rest of the sloths. Soon, he became invested in Tango, and Deborah, and baby Kiwi, and all of them.
There are moments working in conservation where you suddenly realize your work has traveled much farther than the rainforest.
We spend our days installing canopy bridges, planting trees, tracking sloths through dense tropical rainforest, writing reports, gathering data, and trying to convince people that sloths deserve healthy forests to survive.
But sometimes, unexpectedly, conservation science becomes human too.
Stuffed Sloths
As Carter continued treatment, he also started collecting sloths. Stuffed sloths, plastic sloths, sloth toys of every kind. He set himself a goal: to collect 100 sloths before chemotherapy ended. We also sent him toy sloths too!
He not only reached that goal. He completely surpassed it, and eventually, his collection grew to over 170 sloths.
Carter and his sloth toys
And then came perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of this entire story. Carter decided that once he finished treatment, he wanted to give his sloths to other children fighting cancer.
He called it “The Brave Sloth Foundation.”
Because that is exactly what sloths seem to do to people. They soften something inside us, remind us to slow down, to hold on. And to continue climbing slowly, even when things feel impossible.
Then, a few days ago, we received the email we had all been hoping for.
Strong boy like a sloth!
After 40 weeks of chemotherapy, Carter is officially cancer-free. We cannot even begin to describe the happiness this news brought to our team.
Krystal told us they still check on the sloths every single day. Even if there isn’t a new update, Carter still logs in to see his sloth friends.
Powerfu, Brave, fearless, and strong!
“I also wanted to let you in on a pretty big event that happened! After forty weeks of battling brain cancer, I am happy to inform you that Carter won his fight and he is officially cancer free.
I wanted to thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart for continuously being in contact with him, answering his questions, sending him fun little packages in the mail, and giving him more than I could ever ask. To some it just may be following some sloth on the web, but to Carter it was his entire comfort and the biggest distraction we had while doing chemotherapy.
He said if you’re ever looking for a name of a new sloth, Carter sounds like a pretty good one. he has some high hopes.”
While we often talk about saving sloths, stories like this remind us that sometimes, in their own strange and quiet way, sloths save us too.
Krystal thinks that one day Carter may work in the field because his heart truly belongs there. It’s his dream to come to Costa Rica and see the sloths where they are happy and content! It’s on his list of things to do!
The sloths will be waiting for you, hanging in their trees! Congratulations, little Sloth Champion!
“Take life like a sloth: slow down, hold on tight, snack when you can, and remember… even the longest climb ends with a beautiful view.”
If you would like to donate a stuffed sloth toy to Carter to help him on his mission, or if you would like to get one of Carter’s sloths, you can contact Krystal at braveslothfoundation@gmail.com
And if you have a story to share with the community, please send it over to contact@slothconservation.org !
And thank you for being part of this Fellowship!
