Monday, February 21, 2011

Stephen's Story, Part 6: A Happy Birthday

I wish I had more medical stories to tell. More diagrams to show, more terminology to define, more procedures to explain. Unfortunately, the cancer treatments had reached their end. The experimental protocol yielded no result. Stephen's tumor had not only failed to respond, it was continuing to grow. He was exhausted. He was lonely in the company of only my mother, and living in a place that, while comfortable enough, was not home. He missed his room. He missed his friends. He missed his dog.

It was the last week in March.  After a long discussion with his oncologist, and with my mother and father, Stephen made a decision. He wanted to come home. 


He was back in time for his 12th birthday, so it was time for a party and a big welcome. As a surprise, a chartered school bus carried Stephen – and every single other kid in the sixth grade at Hendy Avenue School – to the Arnot Mall for a private theater showing of “Man of the House,” starring Chevy Chase and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. He felt like a rock star with an entourage.


Waiting for the movie to begin.


The party continued after the movie, to a catered lunch in a private banquet room. At this point he was in a wheelchair, and unable to run and roughhouse with the other boys. His classmates swirled around him, excited by the novelty and adventure of the field trip. But his best friend, Geoff, and his cousins, Rob and Dan, stayed loyally by his side the entire time. His girlfriends would venture up to speak to him for a few minutes here and there, and would drift back to the safety and tinkling laughter of their little pods of friends. Stephen was having a hard time hearing amid the din of dozens of voices in the large room, and didn't have much to tell anyone that they could even remotely relate to. I imagine he was probably relieved that the kids were distracted by each other.

Finally, it was time for cake. Twelve candles burned, and suddenly, all eyes were on him. The banquet hall echoed with the “Happy Birthday” song.

Stephen blew out his candles, and everyone waited expectantly. His voice barely above a whisper, he said, “I'm just... I'm just so glad you're all here.”  His voice broke on the last word.


Opening a few gifts.


Two days after his birthday, two representatives of the Make-A-Wish Foundation arrived at our home. It seems that Make-A-Wish gives just about every kid with a terminal illness a trip to Disney World, but for Stephen this wouldn't be possible. The risk of cabin pressure loss in an airplane could be dangerous to his diminishing intracranial space, and the trip was too long by road. And how much would he be able to really experience, confined to his chair? 

Instead, they brought sports memorabilia. Tons of it. Stephen was hugely into sports card collecting, and throughout his illness -- even before he became ill, would spend hours organizing and reorganizing his treasures into their protective sleeves. Now, he had more cards... and hats, and jerseys, and jackets, and wall plaques, and figurines. The ultimate gift, the thing that Stephen would enjoy more than any other, was a 54” rear-projection big screen television. 

Spring training was just drawing to a close, and the Major League Baseball regular season was about to start. It was perfect.

And for the time being, we were all still in denial that he wouldn't see the Series that year.




To learn more about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, go to www.wish.org


To donate to St. Baldrick's in honor of Stephen, click HERE!
See the blog post on "Binary Voting" for details on how to vote for or against my head shave!
Posted by MamaKat at 8:47 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)