On October 30, 1999 at the ripe old age of 3, Cody was diagnosed with Leukemia!
Induction was a horrible time for Cody, he was too sick at diagnosis to have a port or even a PIC line placed. All of his initial meds were administered through various IV’s which would crash every couple of days making it necessary for him to undergo the horrible task of "seeking a vein that would work" and then being "stuck" over and over again
Throughout this time it seemed as though hundreds of new, deadly drugs were introduced to his body. He underwent endless rounds of chemotherapy and he was constantly starving from steroids and constantly vomitting from the poisons that were administered to save his life, yet Cody always had a smile on his face. Infections were normal, pneumonia, fever, and almost anything else you could imagine. As a family, we were devastated and scared. Cody remained strong, sometimes... most times, stronger than the rest of us.
At one point during our first 40 days in the hospital, he was so sick that the doctors counseled us on the possibility of us losing him, this was at the time the most difficult thing I had ever been told in my life. I refused to believe that this was the fate of our child. I begged God to relieve him of this affliction, I begged him to allow me to take the place of my child. That night, as I lay in the hospital bed across from my son, I realized just how very sick he was. I asked him if he had talked to Jesus he replied yes Mommy I have. I asked him what Jesus said and he told me that Jesus told him to come home. I began to cry as I gazed upon the sunken in face that used to be my gleaming three year old little boy. I told my child "if this pain was too great for him, then I would be okay and he should let go and go home". I could not continue to be selfish, I could not continue to push him to fight and we went to sleep. When we awoke the next morning, there was no sign of a miraculous recovery, no sign of anything changed, EXCEPT for the first time in 12 days, Cody did not have any fever. The journey did not end there but it had just begun. Cody had made a choice and his choice was to live and fight.
Months went by and turned into years, Cody would undergo many procedures; bone marrow aspirates, blood draws, PIC lines and ports. With each new procedure Cody would enter the room with an authoritative presence and in his biggest 4 year old voice, he would ask the doctor if he would be receiving "sleepy" medicine. Throughout the course of Consolidation and then Maintenance, I was always so proud of how brave Cody was, marching into the phlebotomy room, climbing up in the chair and sticking a finger or an arm out, or lifting his shirt for a port poke. Rarely, if ever, crying at the sight of the needles and never complaining about the task that lie ahead.
In May 2002, at the age of 6, Cody completed treatment, we had a party that day, the past few years had been difficult, but cancer care became part of our routine and we learned to handle it, and handle it well.
It was during a routine check up on August 19, 2002, when we would hear the worst news ever…relapse…extremely rare relapse. I was numb from the news, silent tears streamed down my face as the doctor confirmed my worst fears. After our meetings with the doctors, we sat down and to the best of our abilities explained to Cody that the mass we had found in his testicle was full of Leukemia cells and that they would be starting over again with the treatments. We told him he had relapsed, Cody’s response was "will I lose my hair again?" I said "yes", one tear fell down his face and he said okay, I can do this. The relapse made it necessary for Cody to be placed in the Bone Marrow registry, and we were told the odds of finding a match. It was a couple of months before we received word that a match had been found and within days we were on an Angel flight and headed for transplant. Cody underwent 15 rounds of total body radiation with additional rounds of isolated radiation to the testicles during the week of Christmas in 2002. He endured days and days of work ups, he even underwent major dental surgery on December 12, 2002 to remove 8 of his 20 teeth before transplant. Like so many other times before, within 20 minutes of waking up, he would be asking for his clothes and asking to go home.
Throughout the course of his treatment, he never complained of pain and almost never used or asked for the prescribed pain medications, if he did, you knew he was in really bad shape.
Cody received his Bone Marrow Transplant on December 31, 2002. Transplant was a whole new ball game, Cody would be sicker through that ordeal than ever before. Graft vs. Host disease would cause mouth sores that would stretch half way down the esophagus and still Cody would get up and out of his hospital bed making his rounds to visit the other children on the unit, leaving cards or little presents that he had made when he felt up to it. Our stay in the hospital through transplant lasted just over 2 months and then another 10 months in daily clinic visits for things like blood, platelets, and medicines.
In March of 2003, three months after transplant, Cody suffered another relapse. His doctors consulted us about the possibility of a second transplant and as a family we sat down and discussed the options with Cody. At that time, he told us that he did not want to die in the hospital and that he did not want a second transplant, he wanted to live, he wanted to ride his dirt bike and he wanted to be a normal kid and just get chemo. Once again I began to cry trying to explain that normal kids did not get chemo, but regardless, we understood his request and were left in a "wait and see mode". But for the grace of God, we never had to make that decision, Cody’s relapse presented itself in the form of a mass and the doctors were able to isolate the area and remove it via surgery on March 28, 2003.
In August 2003, several months after the relapse, Cody’s kidney’s failed and he was placed in the PICU. Again we were told that he may not survive and again he proved them wrong. He showed us how strong and brave he was by asking us to go home and get rest instead of standing a vigil at his bedside
Cody was doing very well for almost a year and then started losing weight. He was hospitalized and released after a few weeks. Then he was admitted and released once
again from the hospital. He was fighting transplant rejection and Pneumonia. In July of 2005, Cody suffered a Pulmonary Hemorrhage, and was placed on Life Support. After a couple of days it looked as though he would pull through, but sadly, his little body was unable to recover from all of the trauma it had been through and on August 18, 2005 Cody passed away. His family and the rest of the world suffered a tremendous loss. Cody was a champion that would never be.
Cody was an amazing child. He had a tremendous heart of mercy, always showing more concern for other children who were sicker than him. He was by far the bravest, most courageous, loving child we have ever known.
The JSF Foundation intended to grant Cody his wish. However, he passed away before we were able to do so. Therefore, we are proud to posthumously bestow on him our "JSF Bravest Kid" award by making him an Honorary Professional Motocross Champion. To view Cody's Tribute ad as seen in RacerX Magazine, please click here.
To us and everyone that ever had the pleasure of meeting Cody, he is, and always will be a true champion.
