I do not write on this site too often, but I cannot express in words how much everyone’s support over the past two and one-half years has meant to Andrew, Meryl, Ian, and me!! It is actually a little difficult emotionally for me to write on this site.
As you know about cancer, one is never totally out of the woods and Andrew continues to get regular MRI check-ups. Meryl continues to take great care of Andrew along with the help of wonderful people, including Dr. Dunkel and his team at Memorial Sloan Kettering!
Meryl’s constant research efforts with doctors and other parents directly affected by this terrible disease continue to give us hope that better treatments and new cures will be discovered. It is hard to imagine when you have a son who had a malignant brain tumor that you may be the fortunate one, but I often think that when I am in the waiting room at MSK with Andrew and see so many children and their families in much more difficult situations.
This note though is more related to the new picture on the website and the joy on Andrew’s face! For me, it goes back to the operating room where Dr. Mark Souweidane, Andrew’s incredible surgeon, had asked me to come in while Andrew received anesthesia. As I was standing with Mark in the operating room (7:30 AM, June 15, 2006), he calmly asked Andrew what he liked to do. Andrew said he was a hockey goalie. The two of them discussed how many shutouts Andrew had that season (7). Mark said “Andrew, I am going to remove a bad tumor from your head. It will take a while, but you will be in the net again soon!!” With that, Mark asked Andrew to count backwards from 10 and Andrew fell asleep.
It was six months later during chemo that Andrew first put on his skates again. During his illness, his schoolmates and teammates and coaches visited him and continued to offer support. Martin Cejka, his current coach, used to sit on the sofa with Andrew to discuss hockey during the time Andrew received treatments. He was coming off radiation and chemo and had become very weak and suffered from peripheral neuropathy. His first session on the ice was with the support of Martin and an assistant North Park coach, Diane Hurley. I remember Andrew, who had skated so well prior to his illness, thought “At least skating is something I can do relatively easily.” He was beyond excited to get back out on the ice. The nerve damage in his ankles caused by Vincristine and the overall weakness in his body caused him to fall immediately. The tears came down his cheeks as he realized it would be a long road back to get to the skill level he had become accustomed to. I had a lot of trouble that day, but the coaches were insistent he could do it if he just did a little bit at a time and worked his way back. That season, Ian filled-in for Andrew as the North Park goalie while Andrew slowly made progress in his recovery.
Since that time, Andrew has been to Coach Randall’s hockey camp with the wonderful goalie coach, Juri. He also had an adventurous week at hockey camp in the Czech Republic with Coach Martin. He has worked hard to get back into shape playing sports everyday at Buckley with his fantastic classmates and school coaches and tennis over the summer with Eddie Shelton. Andrew’s confidence grew as his skills and strength returned due to his efforts. He has a strong desire to improve and a great work ethic. His attitude always remained positive even as Coach Martin and Coach Robert pushed him hard along with his team at North Park over the past two seasons.
Since 9/11 and Andrew’s illness, I realize we have to be thankful every day for all that we have. Currently, the bad economy and friends losing jobs is extremely painful to watch. On the other hand, the spirit of recovery that Andrew has demonstrated shows us there is always hope. Things can definitely get a lot better over time.
On Saturday, February 21st, 2009, Andrew’s North Park Squirt team went to the Club League A championship at Beaver Dam. North Park had never won this tournament in the twenty years it has been held. Andrew was in the goal for his amazing team. As you can surmise from the photo, the North Park team beat Beacon Hill 4-1 in the semi-finals and Beaver Dam 5-1 in the final. The photo shows Andrew holding the trophy with #4, his twin brother Ian, the starting center. To say the boys and their teammates were excited would be an understatement!!
Meryl has been remarkable in her pursuit of Andrew’s recovery. A mother’s love is extraordinary! But all of his friends, supporters, classmates, teammates, and coaches in tennis, soccer, hockey and other sports have really helped him to get strong again. We are all fortunate to have these friends. Andrew will hopefully continue to recover and stay healthy in the months and years ahead with the help of everyone.
Congratulations to Andrew and Ian and their amazing team and coaches. In my eyes, Andrew would have been a champion even if his team lost on Saturday, but it was a special day for Andrew and his team who worked so hard these past two years to achieve their goal. Dr. Mark, THANK YOU - You were right!!
Love,
Dad
