Tony is only seven years old, but he’s already been through more than most adults will face in a lifetime. What started as fatigue during a family outing to see Santa turned into a diagnosis no parent should ever hear — leukemia.

His mother, Pauline McLaurin, left her job to care for him full-time, and now the family relies on one income and the lifeline that is Medicaid. Without it, they can’t afford Tony’s treatment. Without it, they don’t know what will happen.

Medicaid covers 1 in 3 children with cancer in the U.S. and nearly half of all children overall. It’s not a luxury. It’s not political. It’s survival.

Yet Republican lawmakers are pushing forward budget plans that experts say can’t possibly meet their goals without slashing Medicaid, despite promises that it would remain untouched. That means families like the McLaurins, already exhausted and scared, are now facing the unthinkable: losing access to the very care that keeps their children alive.

Pauline is terrified and feels hopeless. She’s doing everything she can, but the system is threatening to pull the ground out from beneath her, and from under her son.

This petition is for Tony. It’s for every child like him, and every parent who has sacrificed everything to keep them alive. These families don’t have a backup plan. We cannot let them face this alone.

Tell lawmakers: Do not cut a single dollar from children’s Medicaid funding. Kids with cancer deserve a chance to fight.

Photo: Zack Wittman for NBC News