We took him that day because it was
Mother's Day, a Sunday, to a walk-in clinic
here in Fresno and his stomach was very big
and bloated and right away the doctor
said I think there's a blockage and sent
us here to Valley Children's. I knew when
they didn't let us go home and they said
wait for your doctor to call you I knew
something wasn't right and we got the
the worst news ever that any parent can
imagine to hear your child has cancer.
Dr. Crouse, Dr. Razzaqi, thank you so much
for taking the time.
Why Valley Children's? You know, why is
this the place for people to come?
When he came in he was actually in the
intensive care unit with a large tumor in his belly.
He was fairly sick, he spent about a month in
the ICU needing aggressive treatment.
He had a type of tumor called Burkitt's lymphoma.
It's a fairly aggressive tumor, it's
actually the fastest growing tumor that
we know. It can sometimes double its size in 24 hours.
He had a particularly
difficult course at the beginning which
is typical of Burkitt's lymphoma.
He ended up going into kidney failure and requiring dialysis.
What makes it so important to
go beyond medicine in some of these cases
you know, just to give them joy and a little hope?
We like kids to be kids, and the
whole culture of this Hospital is designed around that.
What are some of the things
that he likes to do and is he able to do those
things that he really wants to?
He likes go-kart racing. We were talking the other
day about some electric go-kart racing he went to do.
Richie is a real outdoors kid
He likes to be outside, likes to ride
quads, likes the thrill of just pushing
himself and driving and being in control of something.
He has no fear when he's out on the track.
He can roll over his quad and get out with a smile.
Valley Children's is
obviously done above and beyond
for my family and for my son Dallas.
I want to do something cool for Richie.
It's cool to be here out at Valley Children's
Everything they
did for Dallas, your nephew, my son.
It's just cool to be able to give back in some way.
I think this race today is just exactly
what he is just needing.
Being back at the Hospital and actually get to do
something fun instead of coming for a treatment.
He's a year off of treatment now
his scans are good and Burkitt's
lymphoma is aggressive enough that
usually when you get to that one year
mark the chance of it coming back is
very low but we don't focus on that, you
focus on him living a good life, enjoying
the things that a 15 year old should be doing.
He gets to be a kid again and
that's the important part.
The people who trained me were from an era where all of
the children died and they counted all
of their effectiveness in weeks and not
in years and certainly not in lives so one
of the things that's been fun is to see
what happens when you really do cure
85 percent of the kids when
there really is a future for the children.