Make A Child Smile

Colby's Story
written by mom Cathy

Colby was born in Meridian Mississippi on June17,1997. He was my second child. My first child was a baby girl that was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 3, before Colby was born. He never got to know her but always looks at her picture and asks questions. He says he misses his sissy.

Colby was always a joy to have around. He played T-ball, was on the Flowood Fin Swim team and had just received his yellow belt in Taekwondo before he was diagnosed. As a family activity, we enjoy camping together in our little home away from home (camper). Colby enjoys fishing, riding his bike, campfires, swimming and meeting new friends at the campground. We have his yearly birthday parties at the campground because he would rather do that than anywhere else.

On the weekend of Easter, April 16, 2006 we were on our family camping excursions and Colby had been in the woods fishing, riding his bike and doing everything he enjoys. When it came to bath time, Sam Daddy took him to the bathhouse rather than use the one in the camper. Colby being a modest 8 yr old at the time, always shut the door but in the bathhouse Sam Daddy was holding the towel out for him to wrap up in when he immediately came to get me and wanted me to look at his swollen testicles.

The next morning I took him to our house and let him soak in the bathtub. I thought it might be chigger bites. It didn't seem to get any better so I immediately took him to his pediatrician who did not know what it was. He sent him then to a specialist who sent us to another specialist and then another. Colby had stumped 3 specialists. They had ran sonograms and tests but nothing seemed to make sense for a child that age.

Then on April 27, 2006 the first exploratory surgery was done. Dr. Barraza found a 9 by 6 cm tumor in his left testicle and informed us that it looked like Rhabdomyosarcoma. My heart sank when he said the word "cancer". I had already lost one child in an automobile accident and the thought of losing this one was more than I could bear. You see, I called Courtney and Colby my two miracles because it took me a long time to get pregnant with them. God gave me two angels, one in heaven and one here with me.

After being diagnosed, he went through 5 surgeries. He had laparoscopic dissection of his lymph nodes, bone marrow aspiration, bone biopsy and a port put in. He started his first round of chemo in May. He would go in once every 3 weeks in the hospital for chemo and in between time get chemo on an outpatient basis depending on his blood counts. He really amazed me by his determination. After he would get sick in the hospital, he would clean up and go immediately to the children's child life center and play. He went through 23 days of radiation along with the chemo.

Colby has finished taking his chemo and radiation but he goes in once a month to get his port flushed, blood work, CT scans and bone scans. He has a school teacher coming to our home to teach him right now. He is what they call Immunosuppressed so he takes Dapsone once a day.

One thing the radiologist is doing is monitoring his legs, because one of his legs is a little longer than the other and also some stomach problems due to the radiation. Some days are good and others are bad but we have faith that Colby is in remission.