My name is Kevin Dejonckheere. I am a senior Clemson University Mechanical Engineering student who was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma on January 3, 2007 days before what would have been my Spring semester of my Sophomore year at Clemson. In 2001 I joined my high school’s (Dorman High School) cross-country team to stay in shape for the spring soccer season. It was the most influential decision of my life. Spending almost every waking moment with my teammates and running ourselves to complete exhaustion for each other built the strongest friendships imaginable. Everyone likes to believe that their friends would come running to help in a difficult situation but not many actually experience it: I did.
The summer before my senior year of high school was a particularly difficult several months of training. By the end of the summer I had nagging knee pain and many of us, myself included, were diagnosed with iron deficiency, both of which are a result of extremely high mileage running. Several X-rays and MRIs later, that all showed a perfectly health knee, I concluded that as long as I was running such high mileage I would be dealing with this pain. My knee pain continued throughout my entire senior year and my iron never seemed to get better. After taking several weeks off during the summer before college I began running again. Shortly thereafter my knee pain returned though I wasn’t running high mileage. Several more X-Rays and another MRI later I was no closer to getting my pain resolved. My knee was as healthy as they come.
Fall semester of my sophomore year I was enrolled in a tennis class. I had started playing a lot of other sports because I was tired of dealing with the pain in my knee while running. The Saturday before Thanksgiving of 2006 I played in a class tennis tournament after which I played a game of pick-up soccer with some friends. I went to make a cut on the soccer field with no other player within ten feet of me and heard a loud snap. I immediately collapsed in excruciating pain. My friends’ first response was laughter because they thought that I was mocking professional soccer players who “take a dive” to try and get penalty kick. However, they quickly realized that the pain that I was experiencing was very real. I remember one of my best friends saying, “I’ve never seen Kevin in this much pain.” Two hours later I was at the Oconee ER where they took another X-ray of my knee only to find everything intact, after which they sent me home with a knee brace and ibuprofen. I wore the knee brace for a day and missed one day of classes because I was in too much pain to walk. Tuesday I was back in class and I was cycling again.
Our family had planned a skiing vacation in Utah for Christmas break, but I was still having serious knee pain and decided to visit my original orthopedist for an evaluation, yet another inconclusive knee x-ray and no reason for my pain. I told the orthopedist that I wasn’t leaving until we had figured out what was cause this increasingly crippling pain. She sent me to the their physical therapists where I spent about two hours. One of the therapists suggested that I might have an issue with my hip and sent me back for a hip x-ray. Fortunately, at the very bottom of that x-ray there was a tiny discrepancy. My orthopedist seemed somewhat concerned about this black hole in my right femur and ordered x-rays of my femur, which revealed a five and a half inch long, one inch in diameter tumor growing directly in the center of my bone. Also, the loud snap that I had heard playing soccer was my femur, which had partially broken because of how little bone there was left around the tumor. Though it was not immediately certain that I actually had cancer, it could have been something as simple as a bone infection, the urgency with which the orthopedist scheduled me for a biopsy led me to believe that I would be beginning chemotherapy soon.
January 3, 2007 I was having dinner with the same friends that I mentioned earlier. We were having a high school cross-country reunion of sorts at our favorite restaurant in Spartanburg, Monterey’s. During dinner I received a phone call:
Kevin: “Hello”
Dr. Moon: “Hey Kevin, this is Dr. Moon.”
At this point I realized I had bone cancer
Dr. Moon: “What are you doing right now.”
Kevin: “Eating dinner with my friends.”
Dr. Moon: “Okay. Call me back when you get done.”
As soon as I heard the words “this is Dr. Moon” I knew that I had cancer. What doctor calls at 8:30 at night to say, “hey I’ve got good news you don’t have cancer,” that would have waited for the morning? After dinner I called Dr. Moon and he informed me that I had bone cancer and that I was scheduled for an appointment with my soon to be oncologists and the then Greenville Memorial Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Center (now the Bi-Lo Charities Children’s Cancer Center) on January 5th.
After going to meet the oncologists and hearing their proposed plan of action to treat this tumor I went to lunch with my parents. They asked if I wanted to go to another clinic to get a second opinion, but I immediately felt comfortable at the Cancer Center and knew that I wanted to be treated close to home. We went back after lunch and the whirlwind that is cancer treatment began. Two days after meeting my oncologists and laying out the planned chemotherapy I would be receiving I had surgery to implant my chest catheter. I came to after surgery to find Dan sitting in my hospital room with my mom. Dan had gotten in touch with several of my close friends and taken up a collection of money in order to buy me a brand new XBOX360 so that I wouldn’t get bored in the hospital. Dan also set-up a caringbridge.org webpage for me so that people could keep up with my progress without having to constantly call and stress my mother. Within days of being diagnosed I was cards were filling my mailbox from friends, family, and people I’d never met that somehow heard about the situation I was in and wanted to wish me the best and encourage me. To this day I have all 214 hand written cards that I received while on chemo.
One of the reasons that I wanted to be treated in Greenville was so that I could still hang out with my friends as much as possible. There was not a single day that passed while I was in the hospital during which not at least one of my close friends came to visit. Dan and Thomas organized a 5k run to benefit my family and I so that we could help ease medical costs. Fortunately, my family had good health insurance at the time and I asked my parents if I could donate the money to a charity. They were relieved that I didn’t want to keep the money and agreed that it could help more people if donated. The race raised over $12,000 the first year and all of the money was donated to the LIVESTRONG foundation as Lance Armstrong has been a big influence on me. The race has become an annual event with the money now being donated directly to the Bi-Lo Charities Children’s Cancer Center in Greenville.
The Children’s Cancer Center was a life changing experience. At first I was apprehensive about being treated in at a pediatric center, as I was already 19. The children being treated at the cancer center are the most incredible people on the face of the earth. They are in the midst of one of the absolute most painful, most humiliating, and all around miserable experiences they will ever face, and yet you wouldn’t have a clue if it weren’t for the lack of hair. One of my most vivid memories from being in the hospital was seeing a young child being treated for cancer running by my open door with his mother chasing closely behind with the IV pole. These children have bigger hearts and more determination than anyone you’ll ever meet. They also have an amazing bond with the wonderful nurses and doctors, but more importantly, with each other. I had the opportunity to go to Camp Courage, a summer camp for only patients of the Children’s Cancer Center where they get to be “normal” kids. Witnessing these children racing up the climbing tower, playing soccer, canoeing, shooting rifles and bows, and thoroughly enjoying themselves at the camp dance was the most gratifying experience of my life, and feeling their out-pouring of love for their fellow campers, especially those no longer with us, is so emotionally powerful that it brings me to tears at every camp. These children have experienced more hardships in their lives by age ten than most of us will in a lifetime.
The overwhelming support of my family, friends, the cancer community, and complete strangers help me reevaluate my life and what I label as “important” in it. I’ve come to truly realize that we as human beings have incredible strength both physically and spiritually, and I’ve been inspired by these children. I know that without the support of family and friends I would not be alive today to share my story. My two all-time favorite Lance Armstrong quotes completely summarize my cancer experience and my resulting attitude:
"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell."
-Lance Armstrong
"I take nothing for granted. I now have only good days or great days."
-Lance Armstrong
The first describes the children at the cancer center as simplistically and purely as possible: They “Fight Like Hell!” The second describes my life today. There are no bad days. If I ever catch myself thinking that I’m having a bad day I just remember all of the children in the hospital and how nice I have it to be “burdened” with two exams on the same day or a project deadline.
The one downside of my cancer experience is that I no longer know exactly what I would like to do with my life after graduation. I had always wanted to be a mechanical engineer and I am not just two semesters away that being a reality, but since having the opportunity to interact with these children I now know that I also want to help children fighting cancer for as long as I live. I long dreamed of opening a vineyard with my dad and using my engineering degree to come up with new environmentally friendly methods for growing and harvesting crops. Now, I am considering postponing those plans to pursue a graduate degree in Bio-Mechanical Engineering, which would provide me with opportunities in the prosthetic field. This is appealing because I had seven inches of my right femur removed and would greatly benefit from improved mechanical implant devices, more effective bone grafting, and even just from better walking cane designs. In all honesty though, I have no idea which direction my life will finally take, but I can guarantee you that childhood cancer is something I will continue to be involved in until I die.
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