Written by Ben Cox – When a simple trip to the pediatricians office reveals something more serious than a simple infection or 24-hour bug, what do you do?
September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Brownwood and Brown County has many families who have been touched by this terrible disease. Some are tales of triumph and overcoming the diagnosis, while others stories are those of remembrance and mourning.
Cade Perkins is a happy young man of 10 years, who loves his mother, his big sister, and showing his animals at the youth fair every year. He has Downs Syndrome, and after he was born his parents were warned that there was a chance he would develop Leukemia as he got older.
Like most parents, Cade’s mom DeeAnn only cared that he was healthy and focused on what day to day would be like for a child with Down’s, never once thinking that the doctors warning would come to pass.
“Cade was sick and we didn’t know exactly what was wrong. He was two, fixing to be three. He wasn’t himself, he had been to a birthday party the weekend before, and when we got home he was kinda whiny and running a low grade fever.” The family left the doctors office with a prescription for antibiotics and advice to return if he didn’t improve.
The girls basketball coach for Zephy High School, DeeAnn says “He continued to get worse. And what scared us the most was on Tuesday night of that week, we were at the girls basketball game and my daughter came over and was holding Cade. She said ‘Mom, he wont walk, he wont put his legs down.’ So we went home knowing in the back of our minds that something was wrong, but we never once thought Cancer.”
After a return visit to the family physician on Wednesday and a follow up phone call detailing what the doctor could tell them that evening, the Perkins were headed for Cook Children’s in Fort Worth for a 7 a.m. appointment Thursday morning. “He (their doctor) had it all set up for them to take Cade in.”
Cade was a trooper during his treatments, and took everything in stride. “He kind of flew through treatment. It’s a curse and a blessing for kids with Down’s, because they have that 21st chromosome, so they can metabolize the chemo a little bit better. He didn’t hit many roadblocks through treatment, the only issue he ever really had was a gastric bleed and they fixed that with Prevacid.”
The support of friends, co-workers, and the town in general were what saw the Perkins through Cade’s battle with his illness. “The whole community, it truly is a team. You’ve got everybody working to help you.”
The Perkins even received help from May ISD, after the kids in the school did several fundraisers and sent the money to the family.
“It’s not something you want to be in, but when you are you’re glad to know that they’re there. Whenever people talk about being the hands and feet of God, they truly are the hands and feet. We wouldn’t have made it without them. All their generosity allowed us to focus on Cade and getting him well.”
Today Cade is active in school, showing goats and other animals. His mother is active with not only the basketball team, but the volleyball team as well this year. But they never forget what their community did for them, and plan to give back for as long as they are able.
