How HEADstrong is a blessing for boy battling cancer
When the Austin family had no idea how to manage the path ahead, the Ridley non-profit founded by 19-year-old Nick Colleluori from a hospital bed as he faced his own fight with nonHodgkin’s Lymphoma literally opened their doors to them. After Colleluori died Nov. 28, 2006, his family forged ahead with the HEADstrong Foundation to restore whatever dignity they could for thousands of cancer patients and their families from activities in the hospital to Nick’s House.
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP » The little boy sings and dances as he prances around the living room while waiting for Mario Kart to download on the TV.
In many accounts, Benjamin Austin is just like any other 4-year-old with his love of Legos, video games, super heroes, especially Hulk and preschool.
However, his bald head gives a hint as to one of the reasons this Easton, Pa., boy is very special – on July 4, 2016, he was diagnosed with Stage III Multi-focal Wilms’ Tumor, a common pediatric kidney cancer. And, with a few months’ reprieve with no evidence of the disease, he suffered a relapse and the outcome is uncertain.
One thing that has lightened the Austin family’s load is the HEADstrong Foundation.
When they were at a point they had no idea how to manage the path ahead, the Ridley nonprofit founded by 19-yearold Nick Colleluori from a hospital bed as he faced his own fight with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma literally opened their doors to them. After Colleluori died Nov. 28, 2006, his family forged ahead with the HEADstrong Foundation to restore whatever dignity they could for thousands of cancer patients and their families from activities in the hospital to Nick’s House.
Nick’s House is a twobedroom apartment in Ridley that is open to cancer patients receiving care in the region and their loved ones, free of charge. On Thursday, HEADstrong is breaking ground on Nick’s House Swarthmore, a home that will house seven families at a time once renovations are complete sometime in the fall.
The Austins are an example of the type of people who will be temporarily residing in the Swarthmore home.
Jason Austin, Ben’s dad, had taken him to a carnival last summer when he noticed some blood in his son’s urine. So, his mom, Sara, took him to a local hospital, where it was discovered he had a 4-inch mass on his left kidney. Ben was then sent by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was diagnosed with the Wilms’ Tumor.
From July 4, 2016, through January, the boy had his left kidney removed and endured seven months of chemotherapy and 14 days of radiation.
Through Make-A-Wish, the family went on a trip to Disney World in April. When they returned, Ben had his first three month post-treatment scan. It was then that another nodule was found on his lungs.
They were told that the treatment would consist of a series of three- to five-day inpatient stays for Ben to receive 7-8 hours of chemotherapy each day, followed by two weeks of recovery filled with doctor’s visits, blood work and transfusions of red blood cells and platelets. This cycle is expected to repeat continuously for 30 weeks. Then, that would be followed by eight to 10 days of radiation.
After facing $350-anight hotel stays and 2.5 hour car rides for one trip during the first phase, the family had no idea how to proceed.
“The doctors gave us this plan and we were looking at it thinking, ‘What the (heck) are we going to do?’” Jason said. “It was like the last minute and our social worker came through and said, ‘Have you tried Nick’s House?’” That was a godsend. Jason explained they tried to avoid commuting as much as possible since Ben gets really sick in the
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