It all started when Sam was home for Thanksgiving break. After a few very active days full of skiing and playing basketball his hip began hurting, then a few days later he was having a lot of pain in his neck. We all thought it was from sleeping wrong in his bed but he planned to see the doctor at the clinic when he was back at school. The doctor gave him a muscle relaxant and some pt exercises and that seemed to help but the hip flared up again so he went back the next week. They became very concerned and decided that he needed some bloodwork and an x-ray of a lump on his forearm (although he wasn't having pain there). The next day (December 11th) the doctor told us that Sam had a lesion on his arm that they suspected was osteosarcoma. Needless to say, we were all extremely concerned and when our family doctor was informed he wanted Sam to come home immediately for more testing. After picking him up in Durango our lives became a whirlwind of doctor's appointments, test and mounting bad news.
On December 18th Sam was admitted to Children's Hospital and a biopsy of the lesion on his forearm determined that he has metastatic Ewing's Sarcoma. The PET scan showed lesions on his vertebrae, pelvis, liver and cancerous cells in his bone marrow. He began chemotherapy on December 21st and will get treatments every 14 days with a total of 14 treatments. Around week 12 he will begin radiation therapy for 6 weeks. He has a long and difficult road ahead but he is maintaining a positive attitude.
We will use this site to keep you updated on Sam's progress and we all enjoy reading your comments. Thank you all for your love and support. Keep praying.
