An anomaly. A deviation from the common rule, type, or form. An odd, or strange condition, or situation. All of these things could describe two-year old Cade’s cancer experience, at least according to his dad, Chris.
“Cade is an anomaly. His genetic make-up is negative. He has been negative on all the normal markers,” explained Chris. That is partly why it came as a surprise when Cade was diagnosed in June with medulloblastoma.
You see, Chris is no stranger to cancer. His sister passed away at age 9 from medulloblastoma. At age 7, Chris had a benign (thankfully) astrocytoma. So, when he got married, he had his own genetic markers tested. They came back negative. He says they would be positive if he was predisposed to cancer. Cade’s mom, Candace, is a nurse specializing in infectious diseases.
Cade’s cancer experience has been so much of an anomaly that doctors have sent his records to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in hopes that it can aid their quest for a cure.
So what happened? How did they find Cade’s cancer?
One bright June day last summer, while at daycare, Cade threw up out of nowhere.
“We all (the teachers and his parents) thought, eh, he’s 2, that happens sometimes,” recalled Chris. “But then a couple of days later, he did it like 4 times in one day. So we went in for some testing.” Their pediatric doctor referred them to a neurologist for more testing.
“They found a tumor on a Thursday, and he had surgery on Monday. We were fortunate to have one of the top pediatric cancer surgeons available to us at Advocate Lutheran,” Chris said. After surgery, they began looking into further treatment options, and were referred to Lurie Children’s Hospital because of the possibility of incorporating stem cell treatment.
Doctors at Lurie found a stem cell trial that would work for Cade, but it was in Milwaukee. This created another issue. Because it was out of state, their insurance would not cover it. Cade’s parents took him up for a consultation anyway.
“After meeting with us, that doctor called our insurance company and somehow talked them into covering the trial,” Chris explained.
But now, they would have to drive over an hour away from home several times a week for approximately nine months. And that was going to cause a financial strain. Fortunately, their hospital social worker had worked with Compass to Care before and reached out for assistance.
So far, Cade has been responding well to treatments, and his parents have been both been able to be with him at the hospital more than they originally thought. Cade’s parents are so grateful to Compass to Care and all of our supporters for making this possible.
“Thank you so much. Your help just makes life that much easier. All the back and forth adds up. We’ve tightened up our spending, but knowing we have the gas money from Compass to Care has helped us not have to take on more debt,” Chris shared.
Different Reactions
Although Cade knows he has a brain tumor, his parents don’t use the word “cancer” around him or his 5 year old brother. But he knows going to the hospital will make him feel better.
“When he’s not feeling too well, he will ask ‘when are we going back?’ He knows the names of all his meds, and he knows they help. He actually looks forward to going to the hospital,” explained Chris.
His parents, Chris and Candace, had a slightly different reaction to Cade’s cancer diagnosis.
“We didn’t want to believe it. It was hard to process initially. But getting too down about it doesn’t do anyone any good, so we just plug along,” said Chris.
Fun Fact about Cade
His favorite thing is his “Monkey Blankie.” According to his dad, Chris, he has had this since he was a little baby. It has been with him all throughout treatment.
“It is definitely his security blanket. We have multiple – because it gets so dirty,” explained Chris.