Laura Sikora’s Speech on Son Michael’s Treatment and the Treasure Chest Foundation’s Impact

Laura Sikora and Family

 

When I began to prepare for this event, I spent a lot of time reflecting on our experiences from when Michael was going through treatment. Last night I decided to ask Michael what he remembers about when he had cancer-his response: "Mom-I remember, the clowns, the movies and the toys."

Now, if my husband or I were asked the same question about Michael's cancer treatment, our response would be different. It was in April of 2006 when we traveled to the University of Chicago for our first appointment. You see, it had been over three weeks since we first noticed the lump on the side of our son's jaw and, despite visits to specialists and two hospital stays, no one could give us an answer.

Within 20 minutes of our arrival we had our answer-CANCER. And with that one word diagnosis, our lives were changed forever. Even with the support of my husband and father, I was a mess. Michael, however, thankfully didn't really understand what all of this meant. He just looked over at me and said "Mommy, don't cry, everything will be okay."

And that is my first memory of Michael's journey with Cancer.

Within three days of that diagnosis, Michael was still in the hospital and began his first round of intense chemotherapy-consisting of an entire weekend of three different types of chemo. It was then that we began to learn about the Treasure Chest program. With the first round of chemo, I received a four-inch binder of material to read through about his treatment; at the same time Michael he received a brand new Transformer toy-his favorite! He definitely got the better end of the deal there.

We had no idea that this trend of receiving toys would continue, so when we came back to the hospital within 10 days because of an infection, we were just as surprised when Michael received another toy.

As his treatment progressed, every procedure, test, scan, blood transfusion, hospital stay, chemotherapy treatment or radiation session included a toy from the Treasure Chest Foundation. So, you can understand why to this day-three years later-Michael clearly remembers the toys.

He quickly became known as the "Transformer Kid," and so the staff would start to save Transformer toys for him and when he would be admitted to the hospital for a weekend of chemotherapy, a new Transformer toy from the treasure box would be waiting for him.

In the 10 months of treatment, we spent on average two weeks a month in the hospital-whether it was due to chemo, surgery or infections-so the toys were the highlight of the stay for Michael and provided endless hours of enjoyment. Many times the only time we would see a smile on his face was when that new toy would come.

There was one part of the treatment process that was-by far-the most difficult for Michael to endure. In July, Michael had surgery to remove the tumor, and he was still recovering from that surgery when they started intense chemo again and then added radiation on top of it. The radiation process was a month long and required that Michael go to the hospital daily for the treatment. Since the radiation was delivered to his head-close to his brain-he had to lay perfectly still so that the radiation was targeted to the tumor site. To do this he had to be sedated every day. The only time the hospital could do the sedation was first thing in the morning. So every morning for a month my husband would take Michael to the hospital. They had to arrive at 7 a.m.-which meant that he and Michael had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to get there on time. So as you can imagine, waking up at 5:30 a.m. is hard enough on adults-on a four-year-old kid it is nearly impossible. But when we would go and wake Michael up, we would remind him that when it was over he would get a new toy…and with that he got up out of bed and got dressed without complaint for the drive to the hospital.

It is interesting that during this time he received what ended up being his "favorite toy" of all time-which I brought with me today-a small green alien. You can tell it is well loved as it no longer has a leg due to too much playing time. From the moment he received this alien it went with us everywhere-to every hospital visit, every clinic visit-he would even sleep with this toy. It just shows you how the smallest, simplest toy can sometimes have the biggest impact on a child.

The Treasure Chest Foundation is an amazing organization. As a parent, I cannot imagine going through this horrible process any other way. Countless times I would see Michael's face light up when he received a new toy.

Thank you for the support each of you has given to this organization by coming here tonight. The impact that your generosity will have on the life of a child is truly priceless.