Stronger than me?

Those of you that have had a chance to get to know Aidan, know that he is an incredibly smart and compassionate boy.  For those of you who may be reading this who don't know him that well, let me tell you why he is amazing.

I know that in a previous post I had said I wasn't going to attempt to individually thank all of the people who touched us with their generosity and support because undertaking such a task would be near impossible.  I do have to make an exception to tell this story, however.  

The Bentworth school district and Aidan's principle (Susie Macik) in particular, have gone above and beyond for our family. Not only have they worked with us to ensure that Aidan doesn't get academically left behind during this ordeal, they have also made sure that he is not socially forgotten either.  He has received piles of cards from his classmates,  They are actively participating in a wonderful program called "There's a monkey in my chair" (http://www.monkeyinmychair.org.) Mrs. Macik, even came to visit him, bringing him a Rubik's cube and balloons and Jamie and me hugs and kind words.  She also organized a video chat with Aidan and the entire 4th grade the afternoon before he started his chemotherapy.

Aidan settled into the hospital rocking chair and after a little bit of technical difficulty he was connected via Skype to all of his classmates and teachers.  Jamie and I had asked Dana, the child life specialist on our floor, to be present in case Aidan received any questions that he wasn't comfortable answering.

Initially the questions were the kind you'd expect from 9 year olds.  How is the food, is there fun stuff to do, Did Aidan get their cards, etc.  I could see that as the video chat progressed he was becoming more comfortable.  When their weren't any more "easy questions" left for the kids to ask, the chat got a little awkward.

Without hesitation, Aidan said "Does anyone have any questions about why I'm here or what I have?"

One of his classmates immediately asked "What do you have?" 

"I have a kind of bone cancer.  It's in my back and I have to get a lot of treatments for it.  That's why I can't be in school because the treatments will kill all the bad cells in my body but the medicine will also kill some of my good cells too and my immune system won't be very strong so I could get sick if I came to school."

He went on to talk about how he would lose his hair and would probably wear a lot of hats and how he might be really tired from the chemo etc.  In all 9 years of his life, I don't know that I've ever been any prouder of him than Watching how frankly and eloquently he was able to talk about his diagnosis with his classmates.

Aidan has always been a sensitive kid.  There have been many times where I thought and even told him that he needs to toughen up.  He has no pain tolerance at all.  He cries at getting band aids removed, his phobia of needles is off the charts (I don't think any of the patients or staff on the 9th floor will soon forget him getting his flu shot on discharge day) and he even sometimes gets teary when things don't go his way on his favorite video games. But let me tell you, that boy is tough.  He is so incredibly and unbelievably strong. He is an inspiration to me.  

I hope that I can be as strong as he is through this journey.