Kody Cannon
03/16/04 - 07/29/07
14 months old at diagnosis
La Grande, OR
OHSU Doernbecher's Children's Hospital

What we thought was a case of constipation ended up being much more serious! Kody was diagnosed on May 17, 2005 with Neuroblastoma Cancer. He has a huge tumor that is on his adrenal gland that measures 11cm transverse X 9.4cm front to back .The one on his liver measures 5.5m transverse X 4cm front to back. It is a solid tumor that wrapped around his main blood vessel in his belly and crushed his Intra Venous cavia (IVC). The IVC brings blood flow to and from the lower extremities; with it crushed Kody had a high risk of losing his legs to amputation. He also has 2 spots on his spine and one on his right femur. There was also 2 cancer cell clumps in his bone marrow. His cancer is a stage 4. They gave him a 40% chance of survival. At one time Kody had a waist size of 24 and a half inches and weighed about 40 pounds. When they went in and did surgery they discovered that he had 2 cancer lesions on his liver. As of today Kody has undergone 6 chemotherapy treatments that did shrink his tumors, and a major surgery that did remove ALL of his tumors. He has also undergone a VERY harsh chemo that killed ALL of his immune system and then he got a Autologous Stem Cell Transplant. With the high dose chemo that Kody received, he was at risk of dying from pneumonia since he did not have an immune system.
Our life once Kody was diagnosed was spent in and out of hospitals. We spent a lot of time away from Kody's brothers and his dad since his treatment was primarily done in Portland, OR which is about 280 miles from our home. The smallest things would land him in the hospital. A small sliver in his foot landed him in the hospital for 5 days with a bad infection.
Kody lived life to the fullest. He was always happy and always smiling! Kody loved cats, playing in the leaves, swimming in the hot tub, camping, fishing and hunting. He didn't let being sick get him down. He hated it when we cried so we made sure we never cried in front of him. Our family did not let Kody ever feel like he was the sick kid or that he was different. I believe since he was so young he didn't always understand what was going on. One thing I believe is that Kody always knew that he was going to die. He used to tell me that he was dying.

Kody relapsed after being cancer free for 9 months. He began chemo again. During relapse Kody began to progress through the treatment. We brought Kody home on hospice in April 2007. He passed away after we watched him slowly wither away to nothing on July 29, 2007. Kody is now at peace and in Heaven waiting on us all.