Grand Island Relay For Life
Ian Cameron joins Moose-kateers

by Larry Austin
Grand Island Dispatch, April 18, 2008

Ian Cameron has had his ups and downs in his short life, but every day he becomes more and more like a typical three-year-old – stubborn and independent, according to his mom.

Stage 3 neuroblastoma left Ian with paralysis when he was 10 months old. His mother, Dona, found Ian stricken with paralysis in his crib one morning, and in tremendous pain.

“It wasn’t even a cry, it was more like a whimper,” Dona said of her son’s initial pain. Emergency surgery that day on his spinal cord near his adrenal gland removed a lemon-sized tumor. Five surgeries and six months of chemotherapy followed.

Dona Cameron said her son has been cancer-free since September of 2005, but still has lingering effects from the cancer in addition to the paralysis.

“The paralysis from this cancer reminds me every day that he had cancer because it’s a continuing problem,” she said. Most recently, pressure sores on his feet from surgery to allow Ian’s feet to use braces more easily took an unlikely sour turn.

“We’ve had a lot change here in the last year,” Dona said. “Ian’s been on bed rest for four months. We had a little bit of a setback with what was supposed to be a routine surgery.”

The problem will prevent Ian from fully taking part in the Grand Island Relay For Life with his own team as he did last year. Ian’s Choo Choo Caboose team won’t leave the station this year, but the team has joined the Moose-kateers Relay team for the June 6 Grand Island Relay For Life. Dona’s monetary goal is to help raise $200 for the Relay For Life. Her personal goal was to see Ian on the track at Grand Island High School’s Masters Field on the day of the Relay.

“We were hoping that Ian was going to walk with his walker and his braces,” she said, even for just five or 10 minutes. Even though Ian can’t feel from his bellybutton down, Dona said, he overcomes hurdles every day.

“He gets mad when he can’t do what the other kids can do” at the jungle gym, she said. “But he went from not being able to sit up from the paralysis to now he walks on his knees.” And some day, he may walk with braces and a walker, she said.

“He wants to walk now,” she said. “He’s so stubborn he will not hold on to a walker.”

“He’s just so independent,” Dona said. “He knows he’s different, but it’s not slowed him down.”

Ian will be part of some of the upcoming Relay For Life fundraisers by the Moose-kateers.

•On May 1, Team Moose-kateers will be at M&T Bank from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., where team members will be selling Relay For Life purple ribbon magnets, angels and tickets for the upcoming chicken barbecue.

•On May 2, a Paint the Town Purple Party will be held at the Grand Island Moose Lodge, 2524 Grand Island Blvd., starting at 6 p.m. Ian is scheduled to attend the fundraiser.

•On May 10, a chicken barbecue at the Rod and Gun Club, 1083 Whitehaven Road, will take place. The event will include a live band, basket raffle and 50/50 split drawing.

Anyone wishing to purchase tickets for the chicken barbecue can contact Nancy Anderson at 773-1619, Lynn Dingey at 773-5305 or the Moose Lodge at 773-6655. Tickets will also be available at M&T Bank on May 1.

“This year means even more to us,” Dona said of the Relay. “We never wanted anybody to wake up to find their child paralyzed. That was horrible. Every day, I think I’m going to walk in the bedroom and find something else.”