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One month before Spencer's 2nd birthday he was diagnosed with cancer, Renal Clear Cell Sarcoma. He had to have his right kidney removed as well as the tumor. Then he began his long and difficult treatment. Spencer had to go through 6 radiation treatments and 25 weeks of chemotherapy. Towards the end of his treatment he encountered another problem, he developed a bowel obstruction. This complication lasted 3 grueling months and Spencer got to the point where he could not walk, lost all his muscle tone, and lost most of his weight. He literally looked like one of the children from those 3rd world country commercials with his stomach distended and his arms and legs looking skeleton like. Needless to say he had an emergency surgery and spent 10 days on the brink of death in a medical induced coma in the hospital ICU. When he finally made a comeback and got out 3 weeks later he still had not gained much weight and could not walk. We tried everything we could to encourage him but nothing worked. Finally we decided to get out of the house and take him to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis with the whole family. This was the beginning of October, 8 months after beginning our long journey. While down on the bottom level with the trains Spencer decided he wanted to get out of the wagon we rented to get up close and press the buttons. Talk about a tearful moment! For the first time in over 4 months Spencer took his first steps again! We will forever be grateful to the Children's Museum for encouraging Spencer to walk again! That was probably the first real beginning to his recovery. We couldn't afford a membership at the time, but this past October, 3 years after the first steps, we can finally afford a membership and have enjoyed coming every couple months to visit and see the new exhibits! Thank you!
Name: Shiloh Tolbert, member for 1 year
Name: Shiloh Tolbert, member for 1 year
