This 7-Year-Old Boy Had Been Fighting Cancer. Now He’s Coming Home After Four Months at the Hospital!
by James Coulter
Luke Shaver, 7, has been in the hospital fighting leukemia since September. Now, after going through four intense rounds of chemotherapy, this brave young man is finally coming home to his family in Fort Meade.
“To have him come home is the best feeling ever,” his mother said. “Many nights I never thought we would see this day.”
His ordeal began in September when his mother took him to the emergency room at Lakeland Hospital. He had been complaining about not feeling good at school days prior.
After several tests, Luke was rushed to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. It was there he received his diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a rare form of Leukemia that affects 700 people under the age of 20 each year, with 500 affecting young children like him.
“On August 22 around 9:40, the worse words a parent could hear hit me like a ton of bricks,” his mother, Judith, wrote on Facebook. “It was not until they used the word cancer I understood.”
Luke has been hospitalized since then receiving treatment. Further complicating matters, leukemia cells were discovered in his spinal fluid, which makes treatment from chemotherapy even more difficult, explained Cody McCain, a close friend of the family.
Judith has experienced a “wild ride” with Luke going through four rounds of chemotherapy, receiving new diagnoses, undergoing surgeries, and staying at the intensive care unit (ICU). However, now that his cancer has gone into remission, he is now free to return home.
“We are excited to get back to life,” she said.
His mother owes his recovery to the grace of God and to the hard work of the doctors and nurses who attended to him. “149 days they loved and cared for us,” she said. While Luke will be returning home, he will not be considered “cancer-free” until he turns 13.
“We are going to just pray that we stay in remission and hopefully get back to a more normal life eventually,” Judith said. “We do have a pretty amazing Make a Wish trip coming up, as well as a pretty cool hunting trip that was gifted to Luke during his stay.”
A parade will be hosted in his honor on Thurs. Jan. 18 at 5:45 p.m. The procession will start at the Fort Meade Public Library at 75 E. Broadway St. and head east along Broadway Street.
Learn more about Luke and his journey on his Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/820840626112959
