Nick's a very stubborn little guy which in the past, was sometimes not so easy to deal with. But now it's what keeps him going so well on his road to recovery. He's always got a smile for everyone and is an inspiration to us all! He has a very strong faith in God. When asked to write about who his hero is and why at school. He wrote "Jesus, because he died for all our sins"!!!!! Nick also loves to color and draw. He recently won the Christmas Card contest for our childrens hospital where his drawing of Santa was featured on their Christmas cards.When It All Started
Nicholas was a "strong willed child" right from the start. At the time of his delivery, he was so stubborn about making his grand entrance, that my husband Bob, had to help me push! That was the first of many clash of wills with us and Nick. Don't get me wrong, Nick is really a good kid, but I've never met a more stubborn one! We believe though, that Nick's strong will was definitely a gift from God, to enable him to deal with what was to come almost 7 years later in his young life. After almost a month of off and on symptoms of vomiting and head aches, by March 2001, our family doc had decided to give Nick some tests the following week. But on the Saturday before, Nick and his friend decided to jump some steps with their skateboards and they weren't wearing their helmets. Nick biffed it, and got a knot on his forehead. He seemed to be okay with no signs of concussion, until the next morning when he woke up vomiting. We took him into emergency, and about 2 hours after the C.A.T. scan, a team of Doctors came to see us . They said our little boy had a brain tumor and would be admitting right away with surgery to soon follow. We were in shock, but, Nick took it all in stride. Nick celebrated his 7th B-day there in the hospital 4 days later. The very next day, March 22nd, he was in surgery to remove the tumor. The 10 hour surgery was over 99% successful in removing Nick's tumor! He was doing very well afterwards with only double vision and balance problems as side effects. He was moved out of I.C.U. and was looking forward to going home soon and back to school. But 3 days after his surgery, Nick had a mild stroke that left his limbs on his left side, almost totally immobile. Nick spent a little more time there in the childrens hospital, and then 6 weeks in a rehabilitation hospital. Nick worked very hard there and got some of his vision back and his hand and leg movement. Enough all in all, to play video games again and walk with a cane when he left!He is an outpatient now for rehab, and continues to work towards total recovery. He no longer uses a cane, and can run! His latest accomplishment has been to regain enough balance to ride his scooter! Unfortunately, not only do we have to rehabilitate Nick's body, we also have to treat the cancer. Nick went through 30 treatments of radiation that was pretty ruff. He is now going through chemotherapy. He is on a 6 week repeating cycle through June or July of 2002, if all goes well. Each cycle starts with an overnite stay in the hospital for 3 different chemo drugs. Followed by Tuesdays at the clinic for one chemo drug, for the next two weeks. The following 3 weeks are free of chemo to allow his body and blood counts to rebuild before the next round starts. As the chemo continues though, it is getting harder and harder for his body to recover. Since the last round started, he has needed 2 blood and 2 platelet transfusions and this next round has been postponed at least 1 week, due to continued low counts.[Top of Page]
Nicholas Dodger
Nicholas Tate Dodger (Nick) was born in GrandRapids, MI on March 21, 1994. Nick likes Sponge Bob and Rocketpower, Lego's and Video games, Scary books and movies,and his heros are Jesus, Lance Armstrong, and Tony Hawk.
He loves playing with remote control ANYTHING and is starting a
collection of Teddy Bears. Nick doesn't like cleaning his room and
swallowing big pills, but does both like a true little trooper!
Status: August 1, 2009
"...and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16. Nick is having a great summer! He just got back from Camp Mak A Dream in Montana! The first thing he said when he came down the run way at the airport was "I wish I could have stayed longer, I didn't want to come home yet!". Nick made a lot of new friends there at camp and tried some new things and hopefully he'll be going back next year! Nick is still in remission, and still very healthy. His hearing loss is still holding, and he's still growing a little bit. He will most likely still be on the nightly growth hormone shots another year at least. I am also happy to say that Nick is no longer taking Zoloft! We have him down to only the thyroid meds and the growth hormone shots now! Nick will be entering his sophomore year in high school this fall and is looking forward to not being the "new kid" at the high school anymore. His grades for his freshman year were actually pretty good, so hopefully he can maintain that this next school year. The support he will receive will not be as much as in the past, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and saying our prayers. Sadly, our dog Trigger passed away a couple months ago, and we are are pretty heartbroken over that. But we have a new little min pin in the family now named Spike, and he is a super little dog that we are falling in love with. Thank you all so much for your continued support! God Bless
Pam, Bob, and Nick Please visit "Nick News" my son's web site. Please don't forget to sign his guest book before you leave though, Nick really gets a kick out of reading his messages and seeing what part of the world they come from! OR, visit my "Realm" at: www.geocities.com/pamspg/