Hello Friends and Family! It has been awhile since our last entry. Cole's cancer remains in remission, and that is, without a doubt, the news we are so happy to report. As we have mentioned before, it is critical that Burkitt's Lymphoma remain in remission for the first six months following the end of chemo. For Cole, that was the end of April. We've waited a couple of extra months to report the "good news", just to be safe. So, while this doesn't guarantee his cancer will never come back, the odds are very good that it won't, and we are trying to get back to living our lives as if that is the case.
Cole finished the school year strong and happy and enjoyed a fun season of baseball playing with some of his best friends. It is still hard for us to believe it has been just 11 months since he was first diagnosed. It seems like 11 years in some ways...seriously. The last eight months following Cole's treatment were much more difficult, mentally, than we could have imagined, as every ache and pain would stop us in our tracks and leave us (his parents!) wondering....and waiting. A stomach ache, in particular, which his where his tumor was, was cause for a cold sweat and a sleepless night. But we are finally getting past that and a sense of normalcy has started to return. Normal, that is, until we received a call while at the beach a couple of Thursday's ago.
When Cole was sick in the hospital he was approached by the Make-a-Wish Foundation and asked if he would like to make a "wish". We learned that Make-A-Wish provides this incredible service not just for terminally ill patients, but for any child with a life-threatening illness. Cole said he would love to have a wish come true - it would give him something to look forward to during his darkest days. It didn't take long for Cole to decide his wish was to meet Chris Paul, the Olympic gold medalist in basketball and starting point guard for the New Orleans Hornets. Basketball is Cole's passion and Chris Paul is his favorite basketball player.
As time went by, Cole's expectation was that, if we were lucky, he would get to meet Chris and spend a few minutes with him before a game either here in Portland or in New Orleans. He would talk often about how he couldn't wait to meet him and how he hoped, if at all possible, he would be able to get just a couple of minutes, alone with Chris, to shoot baskets and talk.
Incredibly, the call two Thursday's ago was from Make-A-Wish telling us that Cole's wish to meet Chris Paul was one of five sports wishes in the country picked by ESPN to feature on their "My Wish" series on Sportscenter!!! "My Wish" is a 5-10 minute feature that will appear on ESPN's Sportscenter each day from Sunday July 5th through Thursday July 9th. Cole's story will appear on Wednesday July 8th as part of most, if not every, "Sportscenter" that runs on ESPN that day. ESPN is on Channel 35 (Comcast) here in Portland. Of all the thousands of deserving kids and wishes out there, we don't know why Cole's wish was picked....we just know Cole was very, very lucky.
Needless to say, Cole was in shock when we arrived home that Sunday to find an ESPN camera crew in our driveway and a voice mail from Chris Paul inviting him to his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We won't ruin the show by going into the details of Cole's experience, but we can tell you he has officially proclaimed it the "best day of my life". And we can also tell you that Chris Paul is absolutely one of the class acts in all of sports.
We were picked up by a limo the next morning (the boys loved that!) and flown to North Carolina for three fun-filled days - of course the most important one being Cole's day with Chris Paul, the person dribbling a basetball on the poster above his bed. We can't wait to watch the show next Wednesday along with all of you - our friends and family who helped us get through this journey.
