Cameron was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma in Febuary of 2008. After his tumor resection surgery, he underwent six weeks of radiation therapy and four months of chemotherapy. After these treatments, we went back into our "normal" lives and Cameron progressed well getting back into school and the day-to-day of being a little boy.
However, a routine MRI on March 19, 2010 showed his cancer had returned. On November 9th, 2011, Cameron finally conquered his battle with cancer when he opened his eyes to the joys of heaven. Even in these dark days, we know God has richly blessed us by putting so many wonderful people in our path during this journey and we are so very thankful for them all.
Cam has finished up his oral Chemo meds on his second round and yet again, he never skipped a beat. In fact, he was climbing in the tree house and jumping on the trampoline at the neighbor’s house yesterday…which we got in trouble for from Dr. G. There’s a risk of hemorrhage with one of the Chemo meds, so him jumping on a trampoline isn’t the best thing, but it just goes to show the spirit this child has.
We won’t have to take ANY meds on our Hawaii trip, other than the “normal” ones, so that’s a huge relief…we can just go and have fun. It will be here before we know it, so hopefully we’re prepared.
Yet again, we're blown away by the love and support shown for Cam. Yesterday's Angels Among Us was beyond amazing as we had a TON of people show up supporting Cam's Action Jackson team. They had trouble getting us all in the picture the crowd was so large!
We were also stunned to find out we were the EIGHTH highest fundraising team with over $36k raised including a matching donation. I think we raised around $20k ourselves and then the extra matching donation put us at the $36k mark. "THANK YOU!" doesn't even begin to say how much we appreciate EVERYONE who helped make this possible. The scary part is....how do we top it next year?!?!?!!?
It was such a wide range of emotions helping Cam carry the “Survivors” banner yesterday leading the Survivor’s Walk. I was beyond proud to be with him, but I was also scared wondering how many more times we could do and/or say that? He still feels so good right now, it gives me the hope to keep looking far into the future, but the weak part of me keeps thinking of that stupid MRI and what it showed us. I trust God’s plan is in place and the result will be what His will calls for, so I guess at the end of the day, you just treasure days like we had yesterday and don’t worry about the future as it's all in His hands anyway.
I also want to apologize to anyone LeAnn and I didn't get a chance to speak to yesterday as it was a bit crazy trying to keep up with two boys who were all over the place. We TRULY appreciate everyone who took the time to come to Duke to show their support of Cam. We love and value you ALL and can never repay what has been given to us. Cam made a comment late in the event, "This is the best day I've ever had being at Angels Among Us". I have absolutely NO doubt he knows how much people love him and support him...you all are wonderful.
Cam started his second round of the oral Chemo meds last night, and as usual, got his multiple pills down with no problems. Hopefully, he’ll be able to tolerate it as well this time as he did last time. Please pray for his mind, body, and spirit to endure all of this…my biggest fear is he’ll stop being the sweet, funny little boy we all know and love. So far it hasn’t happened, but I know all of this has to be wearing on him.
On a much happier note, we’ve got the Hawaii trip pretty much buttoned up including swimming with the dolphins at our hotel on the Big Island. The boys will get their own time with the dolphins and the hotel will take pictures/videos of the entire session, so we’ll get them posted as soon as possible. I’ve also bought a protective enclosure for our Flip video camera which will allow me to take it into and under the water, so hopefully I can get some cool videos as well.
The only word I can think of is “WOW!” We had a line around the corner at the fundraiser last night at Cold Stone Creamery and raised a LOT of money for Cam’s Angels Among Us team. A huge “THANK YOU!” to Catherine for putting it all together and another one for everyone who attended. Once we add this, the t-shirts, and a match from last year to what we have as of right now, we may actually get VERY close to $20,000 total…absolutely amazing.
It means so much to all of us to have the support of our friends, family, and most importantly our church behind us. You all are great and we love you all.
Just a quick update. Cam has been going to school and has felt pretty good overall…less the headaches from the crazy pollen counts. He is SUCH a big guy for taking the number of pills he has to every day. We’ve started a little routine to help him out…while he’s getting them down, LeAnn will keep repeating…”Who rocks the house? Who rocks the house? Who rocks the house?” Then when he finishes, we all shout “CAM ROCKS THE HOUSE!” He just grins from ear to ear with that silly little smile and moves on to the next thing.
We have a trip to Hawaii planned for next month, so we’re all VERY excited about that. We’ll definitely take lots of pictures and videos. He’ll have a scan when we come back, so we’ll know how things are going and move forward from there.
One other "interesting" bit of news we also just found out which confirms what we already knew. Cam's original tumor was a type that researchers at St. Jude's have been studying, obviously, for a long time and this type of tumor ALWAYS has one of two specific characteristics. Those two characteristcs are not always found in every tumor, but Cam's tumor *should* have had one of those two characteristics. I've let the surprise out already, but his tumor is the first they've seen without EITHER of those characteristics. LeAnn was just at a Pediatric Brain Tumor conference a month or so ago and heard the researcher from St. Jude's and a leading pharma company make the statement about his tumor type always having one of the two characteristics and now Cam has blown it totally out of the water. So now the science world has found out what we already know...Cam is truly one of a kind.
Cam’s counts rebounded VERY well from this first round of Chemo. LeAnn took him to his clinic visit this morning and Dr. G. fully expected him to need platelets, but Cam being Cam, has yet again baffled them by having GREAT counts across the board. It’s a small victory, but it’s still a good sign of him being able to tolerate the chemo well at this early stage. He never ceases to amaze me…
As we were headed to church yesterday for the Easter service, we had the radio on the local Christian station and I was absorbed in a bit of self-pity being apprehensive about facing the crowd at church. All of a sudden I hear Cam’s voice from the back start singing the Todd Agnew song “Grace Like Rain” playing on the radio. He starts belting out…” Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me. Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away”. It both encouraged me and broke my heart at the same time. Here is a child in the fight of his life simply enjoying the beautiful Easter day God had given us even though he has every right to be sad and I’m wallowing in my own little pity party because I’m nervous to face people who love and care about us. I know I’m very biased, but he is such an inspiration…even at 8. I hope I can be like him some day.
