December 2006
Young Hero Award Winner:
Kaelen Nelson Brings Hope to Kids with Cancer
What does a hero look like?
Sometimes a hero looks like a typical teenager who likes
to hang out with friends and is looking forward to getting a driver’s
license. Sometimes a hero is a boy who, by his own admission, says, “I
just want to repay all the generosity that was shown to me.”
Kaelan Nelson, 15, recognized as Puget Sound Parent’s Young
Hero Award Winner, may outwardly appear to be a typical teenager, but
his life’s story shows that he much more than that.
Each year, approximately 12,500 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer. Each one of them faces fear, endures pain and lives a life of uncertainty at a time when their troubles should be few. Often it is they who carry their families through the trying times. Because Kaelan knows firsthand that these children and their families need help, he has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
A Young Life Interrupted
Kaelan himself was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 6
years old. Up until his diagnosis, he had been a happy, healthy little
boy who liked to ride his bike up and down the hills near his house in
Purdy.
His illness presented suddenly. One day Kaelan was fine, and the next
he had swollen glands and a fever. His mother, Tina Nelson, says she looked
into his eyes and knew something was wrong.
At the time Kaelan began testing, the Nelson family did not know that
those first blood draws and the bone marrow aspiration would be the start
of a three-and-a-half-year ordeal that would include countless blood draws,
IV chemotherapies and surgeries. They did not know that Mary Bridge Children’s
Hospital in Tacoma would become their second home.
When the doctor excused Kaelan from the exam room and told the Nelsons that Kaelan did indeed have leukemia, Tina Nelson says, “All I could do was grunt.” She clearly remembers the doctor’s advice: “Keep life as normal as possible.”
She says of that time, “I decided right then we were going to be positive, and survival was our only option.”
Kaelan says he remembers being diagnosed. “The doctor told me my body was a garden, and they needed to get rid of some weeds.”
Heather Omlid, M.S., is a Certified Child Life Worker at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. She recalls meeting the Nelson family for the first time. “Kaelan had a positive attitude from the start, and it never went away,” she says.
It is Omlid’s job to help kids understand what is happening to them during the different courses of their treatment. “I am a translator,” says Omlid. “There are a lot of foreign words, like CAT scans, and many kids picture a real cat.” Omlid says she uses toys, books, dolls and videos to help her communicate with even the littlest patients. “I tell them what they are going to see, smell, and feel before they undergo any procedure. Together, we decide on coping strategies, like sitting on Mommy’s lap and closing their eyes and counting to 10.”
Not long after Kaelan was diagnosed with leukemia, he was chosen to be an “honor patient” for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training, the world’s largest endurance sports training program. Since 1988, more than 295,000 volunteers have helped raise $660 million for cancer research by participating in marathons, triathlons and 100-mile bike rides. Kaelan’s duty as “honor patient” was to cheer on the Tacoma Team in Training for a marathon that was to be held in Honolulu.
Omlid, who had never been a runner before, said she was recruited to run, and Kaelan, and other children with similar diagnoses, served as her constant inspiration. She trained alongside Kaelan’s mother Tina, who said she began running so she that could focus her energy and emotions on something positive. They recruited friends and family who said they wanted to help too.
The Tacoma Team in Training went to Honolulu to run the marathon. Omlid remembers that she was doing OK until she approached the last seven miles. She said she thought she was going to have to give up, but then she caught a glimpse of Kaelan. His hair had fallen out, his cheeks were puffed out from all the steroids, and there he was jumping up and down encouraging her. She realized that Kaelan himself had seven more painful intramuscular shots to endure, and suddenly those seven miles that stretched before her did not seem so hard.
That was seven years ago.
A Young Life Dedicated
Since Kaelan’s diagnosis, he has been a friend and mentor to many kids who are going through treatment for cancer. He says because of cancer, he has not been afraid to stand up and speak in front of groups large or small. He wants to tell anyone who will listen about the children he has met along the way. He wants to raise money for the kids who are too sick to speak and in honor of those who were not as fortunate as he, and did not survive the devastating illness.
“By the time I was 10, I lost four good friends,” he says. “I know what kinds of fears kids with cancer have. I used to wonder if I did something wrong.” He said he used to ask his mom if he could talk to God like he talked to her. “I wanted to understand.”
Nelson says when Kaelan lost a good friend to cancer – a little boy younger than himself – it was Kaelan who did the consoling. “It’s OK, Mom,” Kaelen said. “Brandon’s not in pain. He is walking hand in hand with God.”
Kaelan says the understanding he has gained from having cancer is immeasurable. He talks about the fun he has had at Camp Goodtimes, a camp on Vashon Island run for kids with life-altering illnesses, “a place where people don’t stare because you have lost your hair or are too weak to do something.” He says other kids tend to stay away from kids with cancer: “Maybe they think they will catch it, I don’t know. But at Camp Goodtimes people forget why they are there and have fun.”
Kaelan has been cancer-free for five years, and to celebrate he is running in the Team in Training marathon that will again, as it happens, take place in Honolulu. Kaelan’s inspiration will be this year’s chosen “honor patient,” 6-year-old Benjamin Nutt, who is undergoing treatment for leukemia at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Kaelan plays baseball and video games with Ben. Before Ben went into surgery, Kaelan showed Ben his own scars and the portacath that used to be in his chest and now serves as a souvenir from the time when he was sick.
Ben’s mother, Meredith Nutt, is grateful for the friendship.
She sees how Ben’s face lights up when Kaelan comes to play. She,
too, is running in this year’s marathon. Ben will not be able to
accompany them to Hawaii because of his chemotherapy, but he will be in
all the thoughts of Team Tacoma runners.
Even though the training has been difficult, Nutt is looking forward to
the race. She knows that the almost $200,000 the Tacoma group has raised
is changing lives. She notes the differences in treatments between what
Kaelan went through seven years ago (injections several times a week)
and her son Ben’s treatment (injections a few times a month). The
research dollars are working. When Kaelan was diagnosed eight and a half
years ago, the cure for childhood leukemia was 74 percent. Today, the
cure rate is 86 percent. Kaelan says he is running to "get that last
14%."
Best of all, Ben’s mother will be able to look over and see Kaelan, a strong, healthy “typical” teenager, running 26.2 miles for her son. Just by being there, Kaelan will give her hope.
Karen Irwin is a University
Place writer and mother of four.
©2006
Northwest Parent Media
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