My name is Coleson Brink. I am twelve years old and in the seventh grade at Lynden Middle School. I have one younger brother, Logan, who is ten and one younger sister, Alivia, who is seven. On September 29, 2009, the doctors told my Mom and Dad I have a rare type of cancer called Ewings Sarcoma in my pelvis with metastasis to my lungs. Remission - June 25, 2010 My family would love your prayers that I stay cancer free!
In the spring of 2009, we noticed Coleson looked like he was limping when he ran around the bases in t-ball. We didn't think much of it since he wasn't complaining of pain and when we asked him if his leg hurt, he said no. In late July he started complaining at night that his left leg hurt so we would put a heating pad on it and it would be fine. He seemed perfectly healthy otherwise so we assumed it was growing pains. In August we brought him to the on-call pediatrician because he was still complaining of pain. They took an x-ray of his left leg and hip and also did lab work, all of which came back normal. Coleson stopped complaining of pain but his limp continued to get worse, so in September we brought him back to his pediatrician who ordered an x-ray of his hips. This x-ray showed a thickening of a bone in his pelvis, we were told it was possibly a healing fracture or "something else you don't want in your bone". We went in the following Tuesday morning for an MRI. By the time Coleson and I got home from that appointment his pediatrician had already called Ryan who was home for lunch and told him Coleson had a malignant tumor in his pelvis. He sent us right to Seattle Children's Hospital, we got there around 5:00 and met with several oncologists who all thought the tumor was Ewings Sarcoma which we had never even heard of. We went home for the night and came back the next day for a biopsy and several other tests including a chest CT, bone scan and PET scan. The bone scan came back clear but the chest CT showed some spots on his lungs. The biopsy results confirmed the tumor was Ewings Sarcoma, a rare bone tumor, located in his left pelvis bone and the surrounding tissue. A lung biopsy confirmed the spots on his lungs were also Ewings Sarcoma, because the cancer had metastasized to his lungs, the prognosis isn't as good as if it were contained to his pelvis. Treatment will last for at least nine months and will include 14 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, radiation to his pelvis and lungs and surgery to remove the tumor from his pelvis. We rely heavily on our faith in God and the help of family and friends to get us through this trial in our lives. On June 25, 2010, Coleson was declared in remission! We continue to go to Children's every three months for scans and hope and pray his cancer will never return!
Well after getting a second and third opinion from our Infectious Disease and Ortho team, they decided to let us out yesterday!
Coleson's magic number for release was 2 and it was at 3.5 yesterday. They wanted us to stay until Saturday to recheck his levels but my patient husband ran out of patience and politely demanded a second opinion.
So Coleson was discharged on a hefty dose of oral antibiotics for the next four to six weeks round the clock. We have multiple follow up appointments over the next four plus weeks at Children's depending on how quickly he heals.
We are SO blessed to be able to all be in Leavenworth together as a family, God has been good to us again. Thank you for your prayers and support. Continued prayers for complete healing and no new damage to his hip would be appreciated!
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