Most kids grow up riding bikes, fighting with their siblings, playing sports and going to school. But Jake Louis’ life took a whole different turn when he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 7. Jake and his family never expected that this would happen to their sweet, young and innocent 7-year-old son.They weren’t prepared for what was about to happen to their lives.
Jake was diagnosed on Sept. 6, 2002. He had a brain tumor, or medulloblastoma. Medulloblastoma is a form a brain cancer that develops when normal cells begin to divide and grow uncontrollably which causes a mass to form. Normal masses of cells are not always malignant, they can also be benign. This is not the case for medulloblastomas, they are always malignant, or harmful.This tumor harms the area of the brain that controls body movement and coordination.
Finding Out
Before getting the news, Jake and his family were attending his grandpa’s funeral. Afterwards, Jake and his dad went to the hospital and were told the horrible news that Jake had a brain tumor.
“Me and my dad went to Children’s Mercy Hospital that night to have the MRI and that’s when they found, you know, my brain tumor,” Jake Louis said.
The news hit like pile of bricks, they never expected that this would be the news that they would receive when they went to the hospital that night. His mom was called and rushed to the hospital to see Jake before he was whisked away to surgery to make sure that no further damage could be caused by the tumor.
“Jake went through surgery that night, my wife and I were terrified, we never expected this,” Jake’s dad, Todd Louis said.
Jake came out of the surgery fighting and was soon on his way to recovery at St. Jude’s Children Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Treatment
Jake travelled with his mom to Memphis to get treatment. He first received six weeks of radiation and then chemotherapy. He still remembers the awful smel
l of the radiation room as he told how they had to put a cloth with a sweet smell up to his nose so that he wouldn’t get overwhelmed by the smell of the room.
“They would put me in a room and lay me flat on a table with this big tube circling around my head and shooting radiation into my spine and the back of my head,” Louis said.
Radiation was not a pleasant experience, it was very uncomfortable and his parents were in a constant struggle having to see him go through this and not being able to do anything for him.
“It was horrible, seeing him there and not being able to help him, just knowing we were completely helpless and he was in pain,” Jake’s mom, Stephanie Louis said.
Jake had to rely on his parents for support during this time. He was so young that he couldn’t fully grasp what was happening to, and inside, of him. All he knew was that he was sick and that he would have to fight to get better.
“They were trying to put on a brave face for me because when I saw them devastated it made me devastated and when I saw them putting on a brave face that made me think ‘okay this isn’t that bad,’” Louis said about his parents.
Finally Over
After seven long months of being away from most of his family Jake was finally able to go home. Although he knew it would be two years before they knew for certain the cancer wouldn’t return (if medulloblastomas return, they do so in the first two years) it was still a huge sigh of relief for his whole family just knowing that he was finally going to be able to return home.
“I got home and saw all my family’s smiling faces and I got to go back to school, I hadn’t been to second grade at all during my treatment,” Louis said.
Jake’s journey through fighting cancer may have been long and hard but he came out fighting and was a stronger person because of it- his whole family was, they were closer than ever and knew that they could never take anything for granted because in a blink of an eye something shocking could happen, something they never expected to happen to the family they thought was invincible.