Relay For Life of Central Blair

Hundreds of volunteers came together to participate in the Relay For Life of Central Blair at Mansion Field in Altoona from June 6-7.

I decided to take some pictures while I was walking for the Altoona Mirror / EZ to Use team at 2 a.m. Saturday. They're images of the Luminaria bags that form the word "Imagine" on the bleachers. Each Luminaria represents a person who has been affected by cancer or someone who is participating in the Relay For Life. You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

Below these pictures is also a story I wrote for the Mirror about 8-year-old Ryder McDermitt, a five-year leukemia survivor. If you have the time, take a few minutes to read it. It's one of the more heartwarming stories I've gotten to write.

Boy knocks cancer out of the park

By Brian Yermal Jr.

byermal@altoonamirror.com

Ryder McDermitt, 8, of Duncansville prepares to throw a baseball
to his mother. Ryder has been cancer-free for five years after
he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at
18 months old.

DUNCANSVILLE – The biggest concerns in 8-year-old Ryder McDermitt’s life right now are doing homework and winning baseball games.

Those tasks, however, are not as daunting as the challenge he was up against when he was just an infant – surviving pediatric cancer.

Ryder was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia – a cancer that affects the health of blood cells – at 18 months old in June 2007. He said he was too young to remember having cancer or the treatments he underwent, but Ryder’s mother, Karrie, easily recalls her concerns.

“The survival, if it was curable at that point, that was our basic concern, and how long he had,” she said. “After everything was done, we were worried about the side effects.”

Ryder has now lived cancer-free for five years, but that didn’t come without intensive treatment.

Ryder was fortunate because he went through most of it with relative ease, Karrie said. He went through six rounds of chemotherapy at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Ryder did well and was actually smiling through the first five rounds, though he did struggle with energy, Karrie said.

His leukemia went into remission for a few months but then relapsed shortly after. The sixth round of chemo hit him harder, Karrie said. He was sick more often and was heavily sedated on morphine, she said.

Doctors had to take Ryder’s treatment further and give him radiation for his entire body with the exception of his head for five days. The chemo and radiation helped, but it wasn’t stopping the leukemia.

Ryder’s last step was to receive a cord blood transplant, a procedure which involves using cord blood – found in umbilical cords or placentas of newborn babies – that contains hematopoietic cells that can produce healthy blood cells, according to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Finding a match for the procedure is difficult, Karrie said, but doctors were able to find a perfect match for Ryder from an anonymous donor.

The cord blood transplant was a success, and Ryder has been cancer-free since Oct. 17, 2008.

There is a chance Ryder’s leukemia can relapse, but Karrie said after five years of being cancer-free, that percentage has dropped to about 20 percent. Ryder gets checkups by an oncologist every six months, and at the most recent visit, the doctors didn’t find any troubling signs.

“No news was good news,” Karrie said.

Ryder had some side effects from his treatments. At first, his bones were brittle, which required him to take calcium. He has cataracts in both eyes, but those are treatable in the future with surgery, Karrie said. His muscles tend to get sore, which is why Ryder stays involved with sports to keep his muscles stretched, she said.

Seeing Ryder now, he doesn’t look like a child who dealt with cancer, chemo and radiation. He is active and can’t sit still for more than a few seconds without finding a way to preoccupy himself. During an interview with his mother, Ryder dribbled and kicked a soccer ball around. Afterward, he played catch with Karrie in the backyard to practice before a baseball game that evening.

Baseball is one of Ryder’s favorite sports. When he gets older, Ryder said he would like to be one of two things: a “baseball guy” or a U.S. Navy Seal.

“I like the Navy Seals because I’m a good diver, and those guys are mainly the ones that hide in the bushes and that … and I like doing that,” he said.

He also looks forward to participating in this year’s Relay For Life of Central Blair, along with his team, Ryder The Fighter. The name comes from Ryder’s fight with cancer, his grandmother said, in addition to his aggressiveness in sports, according to Ryder.

Ryder’s favorite activities at the relay are water balloon fights and dodgeball.

“I like to play dodgeball, oh my gosh!” he added.

Karrie is more than pleased with Ryder’s progress in the past five years. She said that, looking back when he was first diagnosed, she never imagined Ryder would be as healthy as he is today. Ryder’s example of survival has given Karrie the confidence to tell other families facing a similar situation that there is hope for them.

“Although it’s very scary right now, there’s so many more things that [families] can come across that [doctors] can help cure for these types of cancer,” she said. “The rates have went up with success.”