Super survivor
Summerside Relay for Life set for June 9 at Queen Elizabeth Park
Cameron Richard, an 11-year-old from Slemon Park, has battled cancer and won. She’s one of many survivors who will be taking part in the Relay for Life at Queen Elizabeth Park in Summerside Saturday.
Cameron Richard isn’t afraid of anything. The 11-year-old has looked cancer in the eye and beaten it, so why should she? “Cancer can’t keep me down,” she says with a laugh. And although Cameron has beaten neuroblastoma, her mom, Melissa Hackett’s chest still tightens when she thinks about her daughter’s fight for her life. Hackett recalls the feeling of learning her daughter’s diagnosis, “When you hear the word cancer coming from a doctor’s mouth in reference to your perfect little baby in front of you... it’s a panic attack where you lose your breath and can’t remember how to catch it.” Cameron was diagnosed with stage 4-S neuroblastoma when she was about two years old. “It was about a year of her doctor saying she had pneumonia and asthma. But her stomach was swollen and then she was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I didn’t think it was right.” But after receiving a second opinion, Cameron was sent to the IWK in Halifax. “The tumor was about the size of a cantaloupe,” Hackett said. Then after 70 days of chemotherapy and eight radiation treatments, Cameron underwent surgery to remove the mass. “Doctors had to leave in about one per cent of the tumor because it had wrapped around her main arteries.” From there, she was sent to the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto. “She had conditioning chemotherapy. “That treatment is make-youor-break-you. Then her own stem cells were harvested, and she saved her own life,” she said, glancing towards her daughter. Cameron spent 10 weeks at Sick Kids and then later spent 100 days in quarantine at the IWK. Hackett says there are no words to describe or prepare a parent for watching their child go through this. “The amounts of IV tubes surgically placed in their tiny chests, tubes coming from their noses, or any of the aftermath following treatments. I’ve had to witness her not eat for months at a time and be nauseous until she brings up bile and begs for it to go away, because ‘Mommy was always able to fix everything.’ “I felt helpless watching her slowly turn into someone I no longer recognized. Cameron lost weight, her hair, her eyelashes and eye brows… The words, ‘There’s nothing more we can do’ haunt me. We do the best we can after this long, but it’s still tough. “Now she is disease free because she’s passed that five-year milestone and the rest is history.” Cameron does her best to live a normal life. “My friends don’t treat me any different. I love playing soccer, going on the trampoline, doing gymnastics and getting muddy with friends,” Cameron said with a grin. “I feel lucky to be healthy now. When I see the pictures of when I was sick, it makes me sad that I and kids like me had to go through it.” Hackett added, “There were about a dozen other kids admitted to Sick Kids the same time she was. Cameron is the only one left.” Although Cameron is happy and healthy, as she gets older she will be impacted by the aggressive treatments she had. “The chemotherapy basically dehydrated her pituitary gland, which helps with growth hormones, so she won’t really grow. And the radiation she underwent shrunk her spine. In addition, the chemo left her only good kidney with 67 per cent function and aged all of her internal organs to that of a woman in menopause,” said Hackett. Stephen Gallant, Hackett’s boyfriend, learned about Cameron’s journey before he met her. “I remember being part of the Facebook group that detailed her story. As someone who’s watched it from afar, it’s amazing to see the things she can do now. She has the most infectious spirit and she just brings a light to everyone.” This year will mark the eighth Relay for Life Cameron has participated in. “Now that I understand what cancer is, I imagine I was really scared. I don’t really remember a lot of it. If I could tell little kids that are sick now that it’s OK to be scared I’d also make sure they knew not to lose hope.” She added, “I’m proud to be a part of it. And I’m proud of the other survivors too.” The Summerside Relay for Life is set for June 9 at 6 p.m. at Queen Elizabeth Park.