For many people, a fall down a flight of stairs can result in a trip to the emergency room and some broken bones. While sometimes worse things can happen, it is rare for doctors to find an insidious illness when people fall down stairs.
In 2017, The Today Show shared the story of an 8-year-old boy named Cameron Scott who loves superheroes, particularly Batman. His parents, Tamika and Wendell Scott, explain that Cameron likes Batman because unlike other superheroes, Batman’s superpower is his mind.
When Cameron fell down the steps, his parents took him to the hospital because it seemed that his back had been injured. After an MRI, doctors found something much worse than his parents had expected.
“It was like an out-of-body experience,” his mom, Tamika Scott, said. “They initially showed us the back and his spine, and the doctor looking at the images turned to the other doctors and said, ‘I need another MRI. I need you to scan upward.’”
Doctors discovered that Cameron had a high-risk stage 4 tumor called Medulloblastoma, which was in his brain and had traveled to his spine.After a four-hour surgery to remove the tumors, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital immediately put into play a treatment that they have pioneered and which involves targeted therapy using gene sequencing. Instead of enduring full-body chemotherapy, the specific cancer is treated where it is located in the body.
After six months of radiation therapy and chemotherapy and a year of treatment, Cameron is not only strong and resilient but he is now cancer-free!
“He’s my hero,” his father said.
Cameron celebrated his victory with a trip to the Legoland Florida Resort, and his whole family was able to go, including his parents and five older siblings.
This story is a reminder of the incredible work being done by researchers and doctors to fight cancer and the importance of early detection and treatment. Cameron’s story shows that with the right treatment, cancer can be defeated and that hope and resilience can prevail even in the face of difficult challenges.