Quentin was an avid tennis player growing up and competed in many tournaments. In 2020, he began having lower back pain that we thought was due to his powerful serve combined with his slender frame. He did physical therapy and temporarily got better. While wrestling with friends, he jumped off a bed and heard a pop and what he described was his back breaking. The orthopaedic surgeon thought it was a herniated disc, but the MRI came back with a tumor that had taken over 60% of his L3 vertebra and the biopsy confirmed Ewing Sarcoma. Devastated we moved from our hometown to get chemotherapy treatment at MD Anderson. Eight months later Quentin was able to ring that bell! During his time at the hospital I was in awe at his strength and perserverance, hardly getting upset while keeping his goofy persona. Seventeen rounds of chemo and a month of radiation and we were back home. It was awesome seeing him hang out with friends and family again!
Our excitement waw short lived. Three months later, scans showed the lesion was back and with gusto. Back to chemotherapy he went and after three rounds of it being successful, the medications stopped working and the tumor started to grow. A month later we were in Cleveland at the Cleveland Clinic. Quentin recieved high dose radiation to the lesion and surrounding vertebrae along with a new daily medication. After two months, the scans showed at least 18 new lesions along his spine, sacrum, and lungs. It's impossible to describe the blow and fear at hearing this news. It's every parent's nightmare. Today, he started another medication and is waiting to hear from the radiation oncology team which tumors they will zap first. He's in quite a lot of pain, but somehow manages to tell jokes and hang out with friends and family.
Quentin is an amazing seventeen year old boy who enjoys gaming, hanging with friends, and hunting. Upon looking at him you'd never know the pain and fear he's currently going through. He's just a teenage boy in a baseball cap. He's polite, highly intelligent, and generally cares about people. I'm so blessed to have him as my son and he's my world.
The strength of these kids with childhood cancer is beyond anything I have ever seen. They truly are warriors that never should have to be in this battle in the first place. I stopped beating myself up trying to figure out how this cancer developed in my son, for I know I will never get the answer. I am starting this fundraising page to raise awareness and to raise funds towards research for Ewings Sarcoma. Only 4% of government cancer research funding goes towards childhood cancer, and Ewings gets a small portion of that. It's time for more research. Childhood cancer is rare but when it's your child fighting and you meet so many other parents who have your same fears and concerns, it feels anything but rare.