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Carson Returns to the Playground
Carson loves to play and run like any other child, but at age 3 the once energetic and healthy boy began running high fevers and developed a limp. One day, Carson asked his mother, Debbie, to kiss his legs because they hurt so much.
Debbie took Carson to his pediatrician, and over the next week he saw a number of other doctors, including a bone specialist, an oncologist, and a rheumatologist. “During that whole week, we kept getting sent to more doctors,” Debbie recalls. “I kept getting the feeling it was something more.”
The oncologist suspected something was very wrong with Carson, and those fears were confirmed when a bone scan showed spots. An MRI that followed confirmed the bad news. Debbie remembers, “I was prepared for something, but not cancer.”
The parents were told that Carson was suffering from neuroblastoma, a common solid tumor of childhood that strikes one in 100,000 children in the United States each year.
“I was devastated,” Debbie said. “I just started praying and praying.”
While Carson’s family struggled with the diagnosis, his scans were sent to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where doctors were about to begin a new protocol for neuroblastoma.
Debbie recalls, “I’d heard of St. Jude. We had donated in the past but I never thought we’d be there.” By the time the family arrived at St. Jude, Carson was no longer able to walk.
At St. Jude, Carson received chemotherapy and radiation, surgery to remove the tumor, and a stem cell transplant. But patient care at St. Jude extends beyond treating only the disease to helping each child enjoy the highest quality of life possible. Carson also received physical, occupational and speech therapies at the on-site clinics in the Patient Care Center. Carson’s physical therapy sessions helped him to regain strength and soon start walking again.
Debbie says she is deeply grateful for the people who make it possible for St. Jude to save lives and pursue cures. “The people who donate to St. Jude are just amazing,” she said, noting that their family appreciates the housing, transportation and grocery cards that are provided to patients and families.
Today, Carson has rejoined his brothers on the playground and can go back to being a regular kid again. Though he is continuing to receive chemotherapy at home and has to return to St. Jude for regular checkups, he is able to do everything any 5-year-old boy can do. “Carson has always been a special child,” Debbie says. “It was amazing to watch the peace he had while going through this.”
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