Ben is a fun-loving 13 year-old who enjoys skateboarding and playing the drums. In January of 2006, Ben was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare cancer that is found in bones and soft tissue. He was 8 years old. Doctors diagnosed the disease after he started experiencing hip pain, which is unusual for a child his age. Ben’s mother, Sue, brought him to his pediatrician where he took x-rays of Ben’s hip and found a tumor in his hip joint. The pediatrician then referred him to Johns Hopkins. Ben underwent surgery to have his hip joint and a large part of his bone removed. After surgery, Ben underwent a year of chemotherapy. Because of the amount of bone that had to be removed, Ben had to wear a body cast that stretched from under his arms to below his knees for six weeks.
Four and a half years later, Ben is now cancer free. “Ben’s cancer is a part of our history. It will always be a part of who we are,” explains Sue, “but it’s just that…it’s not the black cloud you think it will be.”
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