Caleb was an 8 yr old mite hockey player in the Manchester area, playing for several years of travel hockey. Towards the end of the season he was getting migraines and even nauseous from strenuous activity like hockey. He toughed it out and played through the season to Valley Hockey League Championship game scoring the only goal for his team from the D.
4 days later a Dr visit and MRI, found a golf ball size brain tumor. The Dr’s recognized the criticality and rushed him by ambulance to the Mass General ICU directly from the MRI room. He had tests and emergency 10-hour brain surgery the following day (St Patrick’s day 2019) to remove the tumor. The tumor was cancerous, and the surgery left him catatonic for 5 weeks without being able to move or speak. He spent 2 weeks in Mass General ICU and was transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation in Cambridge for 10 weeks to recover from the surgery including learning to eat, talk and walk again. He then went through 30 rounds of radiation and 6 months of chemotherapy.
After a long road his prognosis is very good and he’s getting back to his old self, even getting back on the ice. He’s got some work to do to be the power skater he was, but hockey has been a great driving force through his recovery. He watched the bruins through the Stanley cup run from his hospital bed, got care packages from the Bruin’s PR Department, Upper Deck Playing Cards and of course his hockey family & teammates. As the special mascot of his 2010 Seacoast Spartans and his brothers 09 Spartans team who all wear the Grey Ribbon for Brain tumors with his 77 on it.
When he got home after 3 months in the hospital, the first thing he did was grab his stick and start shooting pucks in the driveway. He’s using his stick handling as therapy and getting back on the ice full time is a great motivator.
We’re extremely lucky to have found the tumor when we did, in part thanks to hockey exasperating the symptoms to a point we got him checked and found the tumor in the nick of time. Our hockey family has been unbelievably supportive in every way and a great motivator to get back to his old self. His physical condition and stamina from hockey gave him a stronger constitution for the surgery and faster recovery time.
We’ve learned more than we ever could imagine about pediatric cancer, tumors and how unbelievably lucky we are to live in a medical mecca like the Boston Area. The best doctors and facilities in the world do amazing work and truly do it for all the right reasons. I hope to see the end of all cancer at some point because no 8-year-old should ever have to endure what Caleb has endured, but we’re very lucky to have a great team of Dr’s and Nurses to get him through this. His prognosis would have been hopeless only a few years ago, but research and funding gave him a prognosis to enjoy a full life and return to enjoy his favorite sport.
For Caleb’s 9th birthday in Nov, he was about to finish his last chemo and he decided he wanted a party with his friends, but for everyone to bring Lego’s to give to the kids at MGH instead of presents. He collected 34 boxes of Lego’s which filled 4 huge bags he brought to Proton Radiation, Pediatric Oncology, Pediatric care and even some kids in the waiting room and on the elevator. He got his best birthday ever wrapping up his chemo and paying it forward to all the kids going through what he went through. He’s an amazing guy.
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