Dear friends: a boy who my daughter has grown up with all through school-and lives right up the block from us-is in for the fight of his life. Please pray. When you sit down to eat. Before bed. In the car. Ask for God to place His healing touch on Jason. Ask that God hide the whole family: Sydney, his twin sister, Brandon, his little brother, Kristie and Brian, his parents, in the shadow of His wings until these calamities pass by. 🙏🙏🙏 Often times parents will let their children know they are special by telling them, Youre one in a million! This is meant to be a good thing. Unfortunately, in Jasons case, he is 1 of 2.5 in a million and the opposite of its a good thing holds true. Yes, those are the odds for liposarcoma...2.5 out of a million people annually will be diagnosed with this cancer, with the median age of 40-60 years. So, how does a 15 year old boy manage to fall into this category? Your guess is as good as ours... Approximately 2 months ago Jason noticed a lump in his inner left thigh. With all the bumps and bruises he normally gets playing sports, he didnt mention anything to us right away, especially because it didnt hurt. Probably resulting from hearing, Get up and rub some dirt on it so often. The Monday before Christmas Jason decided to tell us about it. We thought that perhaps he just had some extra muscle on his one leg, but felt we had better make a doctors appointment just in case. With it being a holiday week, our first available appointment date was the following Monday. I remember telling the scheduler, No rush. Its not like its an emergency or anything. Forward to Christmas day. Brian, myself and Jason happened to be watching TV together, which never happens, especially because it was ESPN . Unless its regarding basketball, I will usually find something else more important to be doing. As it so happens, the preview showed an up-coming segment entitled ,The Dedication Game, which was about basketball so I decided to stay in my chair and stick it out. The story told about 2 teenage boys, both basketball players. One of those boys had found a lump in his left thigh, and through doctoring and numerous tests discovered it was cancer. The story goes on to tell about the other boy who also had cancer, the 2 of them meeting and becoming friends, the battles they faced, and ending in the 1 boy playing basketball in a game his high school coach called a Dedication Game, in which the boy dedicated to his friend who had lost his battle with cancer. If you have a chance, I highly recommend looking up this video and watching it--its powerful. After the segment was over, all 3 of our faces were white. What were the chances that we would be all together at the same time and watching TV? And the chances that it was about teenage boys? And the chances that the one boy found something in his left thigh? And the chances that the boys had a passion for playing basketball? As Brian has said, It was like God put his hand on our shoulder and said ,You were meant to see this video. As soon as the doctors office opened the next morning, we were calling for any doctor that was available immediately. Fortunately, Jason was able to get in that morning. After the initial exam, we were referred to Sioux Falls for an ultrasound. Hey, maybe it was just a cyst, right? No, the ultrasound confirmed that it was a solid mass. Next step would be an MRI. By this time it was 5:15 on a Friday, the day after Christmas, and our insurance company was gone. That darn MRI couldnt be done without pre-approval from them. Our doctors office did everything possible to try to work around that requirement, but unfortunately it didnt fly. Not gonna lie, waiting that entire weekend until Monday morning was the #%+*s. We should have known then that the theme of waiting was going to be very, very common in this journey. Monday morning rolls around. We hear that the earliest Jason can get in for an MRI is Tuesday. Tuesday comes and the MRI is performed. Were told that we can go home and that our doctor will contact us with the results after the radiologist reviews the scans. Not more than 45 minutes later, our doctor calls us and lets us know that they feel Jason needs to have a biopsy and it can be done yet that same afternoon. Yeah, were starting to freak out. A core needle biopsy is done and were told that now we get to wait again for the results. They expect the results to be back by Friday, which is a whole week after we started this process. Unexpectedly, we receive a phone call the next day. The lab in Sioux Falls is unable to make a diagnosis and needs to forward his biopsy to Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Expected time frame for results: the following Wednesday or Thursday, a whole week away. Over the course of that time frame we received several updates with hopeful test results time frames being moved up. We were told that regardless of whether the mass was benign or malignant , it would need to be removed, so we knew that surgery was on the horizon. The doctors wanted to wait for a final diagnosis though before scheduling the surgery. Wednesday and Thursday come and go, were told the results are taking longer and we should know for sure on Monday. (3 weeks from when we made the initial appointment.) Its Monday and we finally receive the call. Malignant. Low-grade myxoid liposarcoma. Whos ever even heard of such a thing? The remaining part of the day is hazy. How does a parent tell their 15 year old son that he has cancer? As a testament to Jasons ability to be strong and pop right up after getting knocked to the ground, he handled it better than we did. A couple tears were shed, and then he wanted to know exactly what our game plan was. -Kristie Cook
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:39:56 +0000
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