Christmas wishes
Four-year-old Damien Day has special wishes for Christmas.
Last Friday, one of them came true when Damien, in addition to receiving a few pre-Santa gifts, took a short cruise in the famous Wienermobile, courtesy of the Oscar Mayer Co. Along with family and friends, staff from Wishing Star Foundation were on hand to discuss the Disney World trip planned next fall for Damien.
The surgery scars on Damien’s little bald head indicate his young life has been tougher than that of most children.
A nonstop talker with an infectious smile, Damien hopes for toys this time of year like any other kid. But most of all, he wants his headaches to stop and to play like any other child his age without the limitations of his illness.
Damien was a healthy baby, weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces when born at Kootenai Medical Center. He was an active and normal boy until late last February, when his young mother, Valerie Horn, noticed a slight limp in his right leg. Then his life would change dramatically.
Horn believes Damien would have died if not for Nicola McLachlain, a nurse practitioner at Coeur d’Alene Pediatrics. The nurse ordered X-rays, then an MRI on his hips and legs. A little extra fluid was detected in his hip, but McLachlain knew that couldn’t cause the limp. She referred Damien to the Shiners Hospital in Spokane, which specializes in orthopedic conditions.
In the six months between first seeing McLachlain and his first visit to the Shiners Hospital, Damien’s condition worsened. His right arm was weak, his limp became worse and the right side of his face was slightly drooping.
The Shiners Hospital referred Damien to a neurologist at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Horn was concerned he had suffered a stroke – that was the worst thing she could envision. The neurologist scheduled an MRI for Aug. 9, but Damien couldn’t fall asleep with the sedative, so the MRI was postponed until the next day. Damien and his mother spent the night at the hospital in anticipation. A new sedative worked and Damien was slid into the huge tube early the next morning. Then mom and son waited two hours for the news.
Horn cried and threw up when it was delivered. Damien had a tennis ball-size tumor on the left side of his brain. Pushing the right side of his brain, it was causing the effects on the right side of his body.
On Aug. 14, Dr. Benjamin Ling of Neurosurgery Associates in Spokane operated on Damien. Seventy percent of the tumor was removed. The other 30 percent remains in his brain stem, which controls his motor functions. More surgery was performed on Sept. 8, this time to place a port in the brain. Chemotherapy began that day and will continue once a week for the next year. After a few sessions adjusting, Damien now sits back for the topical pain medication, and then accepts the intrapleural infusion into the chest cavity without complaint.
Horn says Damien does well with the occupational and physical therapies and has adapted to wearing a leg brace. When the severe headaches attack, she holds him and talks him through the pain.
Dr. Judy Felgenhauer, a pediatric oncologist at Sacred Heart, treats Damien on a regular basis. “He is doing very well and enjoys coming in,” Felgenhauer reports. She explains that Damien’s low-grade cerebral astrocytoma is a slow-growing cancer. “His tumor is an area where it can’t be totally removed,” she adds.
Radiation treatment in young children is avoided due to the higher risk of developing learning deficiencies, making chemotherapy the preferred option. Felgenhauer reports that a recent MRI shows that the tumor has not grown, which she says is encouraging, though not a guarantee it won’t start growing again. If all goes well, radiation treatments will start when Damien turns 10. “Fifty percent of children with this type of brain cancer are alive at 10 years old without problems,” Felgenhauer says.
Horn’s mother, April, says her daughter is doing an extraordinary job in fighting the disease with Damien, even with facing added pressures. Recently the car she uses to drive him to chemotherapy sessions in Spokane crashed on black ice and was destroyed.
This Christmas, when thoughts turn to gifts under the tree, parties and family gatherings, Damien’s brave battle puts the true meaning of the season in perspective.