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THE TORONTO STAR PATRICIA ORWEN SOCIAL POLICY REPORTER A cruel twist of fate brought the boys together. Michael Seccareccia lived in Unionville, was captain of his soccer team and played defence for his local hockey team. Brendon deSouza grew up 40 kilometres away in Mississauga where he, too, excelled at soccer and hockey. When their paths crossed at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children last winter, Michael, then 12, and Brendon, then 11, found out they had even more in common. They were fighting the same cancer: acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In the spring, they were full of hope — Brendon went back to school. In the summer, the boys attended a camp for children with cancer. They laughed, and shared their fears. But this fall, the terrible symmetry of their lives came undone. The same cancer that tightened their bond finally tore them apart. In the end, one lived, the other died. Brendon summed up his philosophy of life in two words: "Stay positive." That's the advice he gave Michael the first time they met. "Michael was lying in bed," Brendon remembered. Michael had come to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children on Dec. 26, 2001. Tests showed he had a football-sized tumour in his chest, multiple lumps in his neck and groin and one lung filled with fluid. "I cheered him up by telling jokes," Brendon added. "When I found out we had the same cancer, I said he'd be okay because all the doctors and nurses here are so great. I told him he'd even have a lot of fun." Brendon had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on Oct. 7, 1999. The disease causes the body to produce abnormal white blood cells that kill off healthy red blood cells and platelets. (Red cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and then take carbon dioxide back to the lungs. Platelets help form the blood clots that control bleeding.) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia usually has an 80 per cent cure rate in children. But Brendon carried the Philadelphia chromosome, an abnormality that already caused him to make unhealthy white blood cells. Doctors told the deSouzas that the Philadelphia chromosome made Brendon's cancer more resistant to treatment. The deSouzas felt overwhelmed. By last January, Brendon had endured chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant. It was the bone marrow transplant in July, 2001 that put his cancer into remission. But his good fortune wasn't to last. On Jan. 2, 2002, Brendon's mother brought him to the Hospital for Sick Children for routine blood tests. "I could see the nurse looked worried," recalled Judy deSouza. "When I heard the results, I thought it was a mistake. I asked her to redo the test." But the test results came back the same. Judy deSouza phoned her husband Len and asked him to come down to meet with Dr. John Doyle, Brendon's specialist. The doctor said that both the Philadelphia chromosome and the cancer were back. They couldn't think straight. What would they tell Brendon? How would they explain to him and to his 7-year-old twin sisters, Samantha and Jessica, that he would have to be admitted to hospital right away and that he was sick again? Before cancer, Michael's biggest fear was getting a needle at a doctor's office. "When I found out I had cancer. I told myself I'm going to be fine. In kindergarten, they said everyone has a guardian angel, so I thought of mine sitting right beside me." Michael began his two-year chemotherapy treatment program on Dec. 27, 2001. Shortly afterward, he began wearing a crucifix on a silver chain around his neck. He also asked to have regular Sunday prayers said for him at his family's church, St. Justin Martyr Roman Catholic Church in Unionville. Michael was released from hospital on Jan. 9, 2002. His mother Roseanne took a leave of absence from her job teaching art at Maplewood High School in Scarborough. Dealing with Michael's cancer would require every ounce of strength she and her husband Rob had. Brendon went home on Tuesday, Jan. 15. Dr. Doyle started him on an experimental cancer drug called Gleevec, and advised the deSouzas to bring him back to the hospital weekly for blood transfusions to replace the platelets and red cells that the cancerous blood cells were destroying. Brendon didn't mind the blood work; it gave him a chance to joke with the nurses. As she watched her eldest child's antics, Judy deSouza struggled between hope and despair. She wondered if she should be praying for her child's recovery or a peaceful death. Within a few short months, the answer would become obvious. Michael's chemotherapy went well at first. It put his cancer in remission. But in late March, he developed blisters around his mouth. The blisters quickly spread to his tongue, throat and down into his stomach. A doctor gave him morphine to kill the pain. But his symptoms — believed to be a side effect of the anti-cancer drug Methotrexate — only worsened. On April 4, Michael was admitted to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and a serious viral infection. "He was so sick. I thought we might lose him," his mother said. A family friend made a call to the Maple Leafs and asked if Michael's favourite player, Darcy Tucker, could spare a minute to call him at the hospital. Tucker phoned and promised to score a goal during his next game just for him. The Leafs forward kept his promise, and Michael quickly improved and went home. But his ordeal with Methotrexate was not over. Michael received another dose at the end of the month. On the morning of May 6, he told his mother he was having trouble walking. The left side of his body felt weak. By noon, his left side was paralyzed. "Michael cried ... it was the first time he ever cried about the cancer," his mother said. The family rushed him back to Sick Children's, where doctors worried that the young boy might have suffered a stroke. The test results soon calmed their fears. Michael hadn't had a stroke. The doctors believed he was having another bad reaction to the Methotrexate. By late that evening, everything had returned to normal. "Going through all this helped boost my self-confidence," Michael said. "I thought that if I could get through this, I could get through anything." ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ---------------------------------------------------------- What's On In Goa (WOIG): Nov 06 Children's book exhibn opens, Walkabout, Anjuna... (all weekdays) Nov 06 ArtHouse, Calangute: Chaitali's acrylics on canvas till 19.11 Nov 07 Revision of electoral rolls (till Nov 30) See schedule. Dec 01 Two day conference, Goa Agenda. IT For Society. (Ends 2.12) Every Sunday: Music therapy sessions at Moira, 5 pm. 278, N.Portugal ----------------------------------------------------------
