He is just 7 Years Old

[CharlieFL]

The blessings of He who is above are always with you!

[James]

Sending my prayers and love his way! And I thought I had it bad getting hit with this at 20 years old. 7? Wow! But thankfully, he will fight this, beat it and live a healthy life moving forward. Just such a hard thing for us (adults) to swallow that a young child has to go thru this. But he looks like a trooper and probably isnt even letting this bother him "upstairs" as we adults tend to dwell on their behalf.

Again, my prayers are with him - he will beat it, no question there.

James

[Already Bald]

Thank you all, and Hapy Mothers Day!

Thomas is doing GREAT these days. He is Rocking Second Grade- reading Encyclopedia Brown Books, 2 a day. Has read most of Harry Potter, and loves math. Chess club next year.

He is bright kid, happy and healthy. He has some mobility problems from the 4 surgeries in his right leg and the skin grafted site is painful and itchy. We will be doing swim team this year, and Cub Scout Camping.

His next MRI is on June 14th at CHOP. It is a 3 hour scan so he will be sedated- which stinks. We will see oncology that afternoon, so we are hoping for smiles and handshakes.

I wish all the Moms on this site a happy peaceful day. You are all champs to me- I too know the helpless anxiety you feel when you child is sick. Happy Mother Day!

To make you smile, Thomas wrote his LiveSTRONG Page today- quick and funny:

http://laf.livestrong.org/site/TR/Challenge/Challenge?px=5632011&pg=personal&fr_id=1510

[val]

Delighted to hear Thomas doing well and will be praying for good results in June

[Already Bald]

Tomorrow is Thomas' MRI

We have to be at CHOP at 6:30 tomorrow, my beautiful boy is scheduled for his MRI. It is a brutal image, 3 hours long. And he is sedated, which takes another 2 to 3 hours to recover from. That's when radiologist prepare the report. Then we go to oncology, 3rd floor- to discuss the results with the Giant Minded Oncology Docs. I'm already terrified, Thomas has been coughing lately- and said he has trouble catching his breath... This is SOOOO much harder than when I was sick- wish I could take his place.

[val]

Hi

Wishing you all the very best of luck tmr. Will.be saying lots of prayers that Thomas and you all will.get great news.

[Already Bald]

All Clear!!

Thanks Val.
Thomas is ALL CLEAR and the docs are ALL SMILES!
He had a rough run, 4 major surgeries and over 30 nights inpatient.
6 months later and he swims on a swimming team, Cub Scouts, fishing, bikes- just a normal boy.
Attached here is his picture.

[val]

That is fantastic news. Time to celebrate

[JPM]

Joe,

Congratulations! This is so wonderful to hear!

John

[Pattytricia]

Ahhh, YES!

[Already Bald]

Today is his cancerversary.

I read this thread the other night- and cried the whole way through.
Years ago, when I was sick- this place was my ROCK, and many of you became my Forum Family.
You helped me through tough times, my kids were 3 and 1 when I was diagnosed and my wife was diagnosed 4 months later with a rare sarcoma. She was in radiation while I was in chemo.

Six years later the unthinkable- my son got sick.

One year ago today we were told Thomas had a cancer called myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma. It is a highly aggressive, chemotherapy resistant malignancy of the soft tissue- in his right leg. The docs told us to brace ourselves- the second surgery was going to be massive, and they would try to save his leg. He had 4 surgeries total last year- Here he is fearless at the plate 3 days ago. Today is his cancerversary.

My tears are for the pride I have in my family- all my FAMILY.

[Paul54]

Joe,
It has been just over 6 years since I joined the forum, and almost 6 years since I met you and your wonderful family. I am so happy that Thomas is doing well and back to doing normal kid stuff. I'm sure his greatest concern is smacking the ball and rounding the bases. It's hard to believe that a then-toddler and now beautiful child would have to deal with cancer. I bet he won't even remember it after a few years. I pray that he and everybody in your family will never have to go through this ever again.

Paul & family

PS: Cathy will be undergoing surgery in December to correct a herniated disk in her cervical spine. She is actually looking forward to it so she can get back to all the activity we got used to, like bike riding as tourists and for charities. Otherwise, all's good here.

[TonyTigger]

Thanks for the update, what a blessing for me to see the picture.