The Preacher's Kid: College and Beyond - 11. Cancer Sucks--But I Don't!

MATTY

It was Thursday morning. I was supposed to be returning to school, but I couldn’t go until he knew about Nate’s diagnosis. I picked up my cell and dialed Coach.

“Coach Clarke, please.”

“Who’s calling?”

“Matty Jordan.”

“Oh, Matty! How is your brother doing?”

“Hi, Lisa. He’s doing better with the flu and pneumonia, but there seems to be more going on. We’re waiting for test results.”

“Well, you and your family are in all our prayers. I’ll put you through to Coach now.”

“Clarke here.”

“Hi, Coach. This is Matty.”

“Jordan! How are things? Your brother getting better?”

“That’s why I’m calling. Things might be pretty bad. They think he has a fairly aggressive leukemia. We should be getting the test results this afternoon.”

“Oh—I’m so sorry to hear that. How are you holding up?”

“Honestly?”

“Of course ‘honestly.’ That’s how we roll around here.”

“Okay. Not good, coach. I’m scared to death for the kid. He’s such an amazing boy. What really scares me is that they are testing all of us for a bone marrow transplant. I—I—I just need to stay here through the weekend in case—”

Well fuck! My voice caught mid-sentence, and I started to cry—on the phone with Coach of all people!

“Hey—it’s okay, Matty. We’ve been through the same thing in our family. That being said, it makes me happy that your family is such a high priority. Because, when it all comes down to it, family is the one constant you have throughout your entire life.”

“I’m just so fu—freaking scared, coach. If I were to lose my—”

“Hey. Hey. It’s okay to be scared. But you can’t go projecting outcomes when you don’t know everything you need to know. In my experience, the best tool to fight any kind of cancer is the patient’s outlook. The more love and positivity your brother sees from the people he loves, the less stressed he will be. I’ve seen it firsthand, Matty. When the patient is stress-free, the patient has a much better chance of beating even the direst of circumstances.”

“So I should try to be as normal as possible then? Keep joking around with him, teasing him and all?”

“Exactly. If your brother sees you acting like you normally do, then maybe—just maybe—he won’t lose hope.”

“Thanks, Coach. How do I reach you over the weekend?”

“I’ll text you when we’re done talking so you’ll have my cell phone number. And don’t worry about us. We all have your back, so you can have your brother’s back. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Coach ended the call, and I went into the kitchen, where Eddie was cooking up a nice breakfast. My hero! We’ll have at least one good meal today! The food in the hospital cafeteria is just pure shit.

Eddie was pretty happy that I was going to be staying through the weekend. Donald and Conner popped in to say goodbye before they headed to school. We cleaned up everything and headed out to the Rav4. Haley and the parents were getting into their car at the same time.

“Good morning, boys! We’ll see you there!”

It kinda blows my mind how positive Mrs. H. can be, regardless of how serious the circumstances might be. There you go. Now I totally get what Coach Clarke was talking about.

We got to the hospital and checked in at the reception desk. The lady behind the desk told us that Dr. Wellington wanted to speak with us before we went in to see Nate. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This can’t be good news. Oh shit! I gotta stop that! It’s what Coach was talking about—projecting and shit.

We went to a conference room on the first floor. About five minutes later, Dr. Wellington came in and sat at the head of the table.

“Good morning, folks. I wanted to talk with you all about Nate. First—the good news. All flu symptoms are gone, and even better, Nate’s viral load is dropping. That means we are over the worst part of his pneumonia. Even better news, we were able to catch the pneumonia before it could have severely threatened his life.”

There was a lot of relief from the group sitting around the table, but we all knew there was a big “but” looming around the corner.

“Now, in regards to the tests I’ve been running. I have some good news there as well. Nate’s spinal fluid is free and clear of any cancerous cells. However, he did test positive for Acute Myeloid Leukemia.”

Whoah. I don’t think any of us were surprised, but then the look on Mr. H.’s face was killing me. He had this blank stare as his mouth was hanging open. Mrs. H. took his hand and started to rub his arm.

Tears were silently falling down my face as Eddie took my hand. Haley had my other hand. Mrs. H. asked Dr. Wellington what we needed to do next.

“We won’t be able to do anything until Nate’s viral load is back to normal. If things keep going at the current pace, it looks like we will start treatment on Friday. From what I know, your son is much more alert this morning than he’s been since he arrived. He needs to be told.”

Eddie asked, “How do we tell him? I mean, he’s just a kid, but he’s a lot more mature than most fourteen-year-olds.”

“There’s no set way on how to tell a child of any age that they have cancer. In my experience, I have found that teenagers are concerned mainly with how this will change their lives and appearance. So, on that front—he will be missing quite a bit of school. He will be in the hospital for at least ten days—quite possibly up to four weeks. He will lose his hair, but it will grow back. He needs to know—and see for himself—that he won’t be losing his friends due to his illness. His life will change. His appearance will change. His friendships and relationships should not change.”

Mr. H. asked the doctor about the treatment.

“As soon as Nate is healthy—which we are looking at two to three days—we will begin the first phase of treatment. It’s a pretty intense chemo procedure we call 7+3. Essentially what happens is we give him Cytarabine for seven days, and for the first three days, we will be adding small bursts of a second chemo drug—probably Idarubicin.

“Because he is young, we will be able to give him this more intense chemotherapy. However, the therapy will destroy the leukemia cells in his body and the majority of his normal bone marrow cells. It will take a few weeks for his blood counts to start looking normal. During that time, we will be giving him a fairly heavy regimen of antibiotics and a growth factor medication—which will help increase his white blood cell count a bit faster than his body can do on its own. Additionally, his visitors will be required to wear protective clothing for his protection.”

“Won’t that frighten him?”

“No. It shouldn’t, especially since we are all going to be honest with him. Nate will know that his immune system is fragile due to chemotherapy. This is what I was talking about when I mentioned being honest with Nate. When a young patient understands what’s going on with his treatment, he is much calmer and relaxed—more so than most adult patients, I might add.”

Mrs. H. looked at the doctor with her brow furled. “What are his chances of survival, doctor?”

“I don’t give out chances or odds for recovery—mainly because every patient is different. On the other hand, I will say that I am most optimistic about Nate’s prognosis. We know his cancer has not spread at this point. Even more important is the love and support I see from every member of this family.

“I know I’m a doctor. I know I’m supposed to be analytical and scientific with my approach to this type of illness. But I will say that when I see a family such as yours, the patient almost always has a speedier and much longer-lasting recovery. That said, I will also say that we have come a long, long way in treating juvenile leukemias. Quite frankly, I feel very good about Nate’s prognosis.”

“Thank you for your frankness, Dr. Wellington. I can assure you that my wife, my kids, and I will do whatever we can to make this as manageable for Nathan as we can.”

“Just know that if there are any questions that come up that you don’t have the answers to, feel free to let me know. I’ll be more than happy to do what I can to make this manageable for Nathan and the entire family. Now—I need to check in on a couple of other patients, so I will leave you all to discuss anything you need. Just keep in mind there’s a young man upstairs waiting for the most important people in his life.”

Dr. Wellington left the room, and Mr. H. stood, leaning down on the table. “I know that was hard for all of us to hear. We’re all aware that Nathan has a tough road ahead. I’m also mindful that we all have a tough road ahead. But—and this is huge—no matter how worried we might be—no matter how frightened we might become—this family will always be positive and encouraging when we’re with Nate.

“Mags—you get to love and dote on him like you always do. Eddie and Matty—you get to tease him and talk with him like you always do. Haley—you get to be annoyed with him like you always do. As for me? I get to let that amazing kid confuse the heck out of me like he always does. In other words, nothing—and mean absolutely nothing—changes in the way we deal with Nate. Everyone good with that?”

We all agreed and stood to hug each other. God, the love that just pours from this family is fucking amazing. Just from that hug alone, I knew we were all going to get through this ordeal.

EDDIE

“Good morning, America! It’s our first day back after the New Year holiday. After a quick look at the morning headlines, Robin and Michael will be back with an amazing story from one of our favorite families—the Hamiltons of Charlotte, North Carolina.”

The dude behind the camera pointed to us, letting us know that we were on camera. I looked at the big television in front of us and saw Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan waving and smiling.

After about 10 seconds, he let us know that we were clear and would be for the next six minutes. He then explained that once our segment started, we needed to act as though we were in the studio being interviewed. He said none of us would know when the director would switch to a shot of the family or an individual. That was cool since we all knew how that worked—well, except for Haley. She was with us this time.

“Okay folks—here we go. 5…4…3…2—”

“It was almost two years ago when America fell in love with the Hamilton family and the famous promposal video on social media.”

Fuck me! They were showing a clip of Matty kissing me at the mall. Let it go already! Michael started talking next.

“Matty Jordan became a freshman standout quarterback with the Mountaineers of Appalachian State University. Eddie Hamilton began his studies to follow in his father’s footsteps as an ordained minister.”

ROBIN: “And Nate Hamilton, the young man who actually filmed the famous video, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in September of last year. A week after his diagnosis, Nate made a decision that soon made him—once again—a viral social media sensation with his twice-weekly vlog, “Cancer Sucks—But I Don’t! Here’s just a sample.”

They went to another video clip showing pieces of Nate’s vlog:

SEPTEMBER 28: Hi, I’m Nate Hamilton—and I have cancer. Well--Acute Myeloid Leukemia, to be more exact. And yeah—cancer so sucks. But I won’t. You see, I’m gonna beat this. I’m gonna beat this down so far into the ground that it won’t dare to even try and come back.

OCTOBER 1: Dude! They just shaved my head for me. My hair was falling out, and I got tired of waking up with hair all over the place. So here goes nothin’!

Nate pulled the cap off and ran his hand over the top of his bald head.

You know, I thought I was gonna freak out over this bald thing, but it looks a lot better than those splotchy patches that were still in my head.

OCTOBER 3: Okay, so the reason I started this vlog was because I was looking for something just like it. You know—a kid who was dealing with cancer and all the crap that goes with it. I couldn’t find it anywhere—so I decided to make one myself. I’m not gonna hide stuff from you. I’m gonna tell you like it is. Like today—it’s day 5 of my chemo. The good news is I only have two more days. The bad news is I feel like shit—I mean crap—sorry, Mom.

OCTOBER 5: I’m in the middle of my last chemo treatment—thank God it’s over. They tell me I’m going to start feeling better in a few days. But there is one thing worse than chemo—hospital food. Next vlog, I’m gonna show you my lunch. Get your barf bags ready!

OCTOBER 21: They tell me I have to have a bone marrow transplant. They’re gonna zap me with some super intense radiation and kill all the bone marrow cells in my body and then put some new bone marrow in me. Honestly? I’m kinda scared. The only thing that has me excited is that my donor is the coolest dude I’ve ever known. It’s my brother’s boyfriend, Matty. You know—the dude I filmed a couple years ago for that silly promposal thing he did for my brother. My dad, who’s a minister, tells me that God sometimes throws the craziest stuff our way. They say it’s totally rare for a family friend to be a blood marrow match. I say God knows exactly what he’s doing—and now, Matty Jordan is gonna be a part of me for the rest of my life. I’m sooooo cool with that!

NOVEMBER 22: Thanksgiving is coming up, and I’ll tell you what I’m thankful for—I’m in remission, and there’s no more cancer in my body. I’m going home tomorrow, and that means I don’t have to eat hospital food anymore! And look! My hair’s coming back! Only it’s a lot darker than it was before. How weird is that?

ROBIN: That’s just a sample of the heartwarming, and at times—heartbreaking—vlog created by Nate Hamilton. And here he is, Nate Hamilton!

MICHAEL: Looking good, Nate. How are you feeling?

NATE: I feel great now. I’m going back to school next week, and I just did the last episode of my vlog.

ROBIN: Your amazing vlog. But I think the thing that inspired me the most about your vlog is the endless comments from people whose lives you’ve touched and encouraged. But the name—how did you come up with that?

NATE: It came from when they told me I had cancer. I mean, the whole family was great and even pretty positive about the whole thing. There was never any doubt that we’d beat it down to the ground. I remember after they told me, Eddie said, “Cancer sucks.” I just looked at him and told him I wasn’t going to.

ROBIN: Mrs. Hamilton, Nate just said “we” were going to beat the cancer. I remember from my own experience that cancer rather cruelly takes the entire family along for a journey that is frightening and even terrifying at times. How did your family handle this ordeal?

MAGGIE: As soon as the doctor informed us of Nate’s condition, we all promised to treat Nate exactly as we always had. But I have to say, that kid pretty much blew us all away when he started his vlog. It gave him power over his cancer. When we all realized how many lives Nate was changing every day—he inspired us—especially when he insisted that we film him on those days he was feeling pretty rotten. He wanted everything to be real. Amazing. Just amazing.

MICHAEL: I have a question for Matty. What went through your mind when you were told that you were the match for Nate’s transplant?

MATTY: Well, not long after we were on GMA the last time my father passed away. The Hamiltons were awesome in the way they made me a complete part of their family—well, my family now. Back then, I would pray for God to give me something—anything—that I could give to this family. They gave me so much—I wanted to give something back. So—when they told me I was a donor match, I wasn’t surprised. I just figured it was God doing God stuff. You know?

MICHAEL: When you were on GMA before, you were recruited on the air by Appalachian State University. You accepted their offer and became a freshman quarterback sensation in your first three games. Then you were suddenly—and surprisingly—red-shirted. Can you tell us about that?

MATTY: It’s pretty simple, really. When I found out I was the donor match for Nate, I went to Coach Clarke and asked him to switch me with Johnny Wilson, who was red-shirted at the beginning of the season. That way, it would be easier for me to get away when I was needed back home to help this guy get better. It’s all good, though. I’ll be back next year.

MICHAEL: There you go! You’ll just get to be a sophomore sensation next year!

ROBIN: We have to take a quick break, but we have another very special guest joining us when we come back.

MICHAEL: Why, who is it, Robin?

ROBIN: You’ll see when we come back!

They went to a commercial break, and we all grabbed the water bottles we had hidden behind furniture and pillows. Hey! Those lights are hot as fuck! They had makeup people dabbing our faces and putting on powder, so we all looked healthy or whatever. Before we knew it, they were counting down for us to return to the show.

MICHAEL: Welcome back to the first show of the new year, and we’re talking with the Hamilton family of Charlotte, North Carolina.

ROBIN: Now, when this man calls and says he wants to be a part of this segment, you don’t ask why. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the big bossman, the chairman of The Walt Disney Corporation, Mr. Bob Iger!

MICHAEL: Welcome to GMA, Mr. Iger. It’s always a great pleasure to have you on the show!

BOB: When I found out this incredible boy and his family were going to be a part of the show, I had to pop in for a visit. All of us in the Disney family have been touched and inspired by this remarkable young man. We decided to show our appreciation by inviting the family to the Disney Resort in Orlando for a week of fun and entertainment.

CLAY: Oh my! Thank you so much, Mr. Iger! That’s—that’s just wonderful!

BOB: But then we were talking, and it came up that if there was ever a family that deserved a week of rest and relaxation, it was the Hamiltons. Now, Disneyworld is a wonderful place, but it may not be the most restful place we have. So we decided that we would also give them an unforgettable vacation over Spring break to our beautiful Aulani Resort and Spa in Kapolei, Hawaii! And Nate, because you’re so amazing—we’re going to let you bring a friend along to make it a little more fun for you.

Whoa! We’re going to fucking Hawaii!?! Man, thank you, Nate, for being so fucking awesome! By the time we all stopped hugging, laughing and crying—we were off the air! Who cares? Nate was better! Our family was stronger than ever. Matty was a bigger part of the family than ever before. And we’re going to Disneyworld!