Obviously, I am going to slack on trying to update heroes to my blog on the weekends. I was hoping I could get to it, but life is just so busy. So, I guess a realistic goal would be weekdays. I'll just make it a Monday - Friday job. Here is another child who has been dear to me! And...thank you for taking the time to read about these special people in my life!
In Memory of
Justin Tollett
February 20, 2006 - January 29, 2012
Justin and Brandon playing at the RMH playground.
Justin laughing it up with Brandon at the RMH in Memphis.
I met Justin and his parents, Kristie and Jerry, one day in the RO waiting room as our children were sedated and getting radiation. Jerry would talk to a brick wall if it would listen, and I'm okay with that. Just was four, about to turn five, just like my Ivee and Brandon. He was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a brain tumor, and a "sugar coating" of the spine. Medulloblastomas are natorious for affecting the spine and it's fluid as well as the brain. At the time he was receiving high dose radiation to his brain and spine.
Like many children, Justin had been sick for quite sometime, three weeks in his case. After going to the pediatrician for the third time, he was admitted to the hospital for dehydration. Not pleased with what was happening with him in their small town, his parents decided to take him to the ER in Knoxville at the children's hospital. There they did a Cat Scan of his brain and found the tumor. Life became a moment of shock, a whirlwind of decisions, and then an adjustment to life at a cancer hospital for children.
Justin fought cancer through 30 doses of radiation that began in February of 2011 and 4 months of hard chemotherapy that ended in October of 2011.
At the end of December, Justin took a turn for the worse, and a MRI revealed he had two new tumors in the his frontal lobe. After talking to the neurosurgeon about surgery and affects and damage, Kristie and Jerry made a decision to not go through with the surgery and any further treatments based on quality of life. They watched as Justin held on for an entire month on hospice care. He would have been 7 this past February 20th.
A life after cancer treatment
These are the words of Justin's mom from one of her blogs.
"The side affects from radiation *(and chemotherapy) are very distrubing to Jerry and me. Monday was the second hardest day of my life. To think once he is cured of cancer his whole life will now be affected by such high doses of radiation and the chemo. At that moment when the doctor was telling us what was going to happen to Justin as he got older I thought I don't believe you. Then I got mad. I told Jerry I am not going to believe what he is saying I can't. Jerry, my sweet husband, said, "Then we won't."
Kristie and Jerry never got to experience that life with Justin, but it is a place that I live. Brain damage, learning disabilities, hearing lose, vision impairment, lack of balance, delayed development, growth hormone shots, compression of the brain stem, weakening of blood vessels, and many things we haven't experienced yet, such as necrosis of brain tissue. By God, I pray one day we can avoid doing this to any other children!
*I added chemotherapy cause the effects are very dramatic as well.
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