Christmas cheer for young cancer survivor
Published:Saturday | December 11, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Anastasia Cunningham, Senior Gleaner Writer
December 1, 2005, was the beginning of a nightmare for the Newby family. Lenford and Sandra Newby found out their youngest child, two-year-old Tajay, had cancer.
Sandra was heartbroken. The tears flowed like a raging river and the heartache became excruciating as she thought she was about to lose her baby.
She remembered when it all began on that fateful day of September 18, 2005.
Picking him up after work from his caregiver that evening, she was told that Tajay was roasting with fever. On their way home, he kept complaining of thirst.
That night, his parents found him on the floor with a high fever, shivering and having convulsions. The extremely high temperature eventually knocked him out cold.
His father rushed him to the Bustamante Hospital for Children. He was admitted immediately.
After months of a series of tests, Sandra said a nurse came to her and said if she knew what her son had, she wouldn't work again.
Sandra went outside and cried - and cried, and cried.
Common in children
Eventually, she was taken to the doctor who told her that her two-year-old baby had acute lymphoid leukaemia - a cancer of the lymphocytes that affects the white blood cells involved in the body's immune system. This cancer is most common in young children and adults older than 50, but is known to develop in people of all ages.
Today, five years later, seven-year-old Tajay is a bright-eyed, smiling, energetic cancer survivor. His parents and three siblings are all full of joy and giving God thanks for taking them through the worst.
Yesterday, Carol Blair, administrative director of the Jamaica Cancer Society, and her team paid a special visit to Tajay at his Central Branch All-Age School to bring some Christmas cheer to a childhood cancer survivor.
Young Tajay and mom were all smiles as they graciously accepted the gifts, courtesy of Answers for Children. Tajay's grade-two classmates and teacher, Yvonne Catnott, along with principal Michael Sutherland and vice-principal Janet Able-Simpson all celebrated the moment with him as they also got goodies from the Cancer Society team.
Blair met Tajay in 2008 when she went to the Bustamante Hospital to visit young cancer patients.
She recalled that he also had chickenpox and was isolated. Although it was risky, her passion for children and her desire to reach out to all the young cancer patients compelled her to see him.
"So I said a word of prayer and just went in by faith," she said.
From that day, as with all her young cancer children, she has kept in touch with Tajay and kept up with his progress.
Blair is overjoyed when they become survivors. Losing any of her 'children' pains her heart.
"I'm so inspired by them because despite the challenges, they have this passion for life," she said.
She said between 1998 and 2008, there were 150 cases in Jamaica of cancer patients between ages zero and 14, equally divided between boys and girls. Unfortunately, not all of them have survived.
Blair and her team are hoping to visit at least four other young cancer survivors over the Christmas period.
Tajay's mom has more than enough reason to be full of hope and joy today. Her sleepless nights and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to save her son were all worth it. Sandra, who is from the Kingston 12 area, said although she still owed the hospital, she is giving God thanks.
After intense treatment, with Tajay spending months at a time in hospital, in 2007, she finally got the news that her son had been cured. The treatment was completed last year, but Tajay still has to go in for check-ups every three months.
"At first, I never thought he would recover. It was so hard, but we just took it one day at a time," said Sandra, who is not aware of any history of cancer in her family.
"Every time I went to look for him at the hospital, I would first peep in through the window to see if he was still in his bed before I went inside. When I wasn't there, every time the phone rang I was so afraid to answer it because I didn't want to hear the bad news."
A dream he'd be fine
She finally knew Tajay was going to be all right because of a dream she had.
"I was sitting by his bed one day and dozed off. I saw this man in a full white gown walk to the bed and rub Tajay's head and say 'Everything is going to be all right'. I got up and said to Tajay, 'Come, the doctor ready for you'. When I looked around I didn't see anyone. It was then I realised it was a dream. A relief came over me and I knew he was going to be fine," said a smiling mom.
Tajay, who is all smiles but short on words when he is around strangers, according to his mom, only had "Fine" to say when asked anything by The Gleaner.
However, being ill and away from mommy and school made him "sad."
One thing he was sure of: what he wanted to be when he grew up.
"A soldier," he quickly responded. "Because a soldier is good."
Mom said ever since he was in basic school, on Career Day, he always dressed up as a soldier.
"Don't watch how him a behave shy," mom said. "Him always full of energy and giving trouble, climbing on tings and up and down. Every minute me have to call to him. Him always happy. The only time he was sad was when he was going through the difficult times during the cancer treatment."
Catnott, his teacher, described Tajay as an average student, but one who excelled in mathematics.
"He is very playful. I was surprised to hear that he was a cancer survivor because he doesn't show it and has never appeared ill. He is always at school," she said.