Our 4-year-old son had to have 23 days of proton therapy, so we came to Kansas City and stayed for 5 weeks straight, being away from family and friends. Our son had to be NPO in the morning, so he would wake up and we’d tell him he couldn’t have food until after he took his “nap” since he had to be sedated for the radiation treatment. That is what we called it, just a nap.

At first, he was scared and would say he didn’t want to take his nap. After the first week, it turned into us telling him, “You are going to take your nap,” and he would be sad, but then he would ask if he would get to see his favorite nurse. When we answered him with a “yes,” he would get so excited and say, “Yay, I get to see them”. Soon it was not about the nap, but we would tell him that he got to go see this nurse, and he would be happy. On our last weekend of treatment, he even mentioned that he wanted to go see this nurse and was sad that he couldn’t until Monday.

This nurse went above and beyond for our son! They not only made sure he was good during treatment but also noticed when our son was cold, and we were able to adjust and bring a hat to help keep him warm during his treatments. They always made sure L was in his favorite blanket wrap when they brought him back so he could wake up with his blanket. They made it fun by having balloons for him or dressing up like Spider-Man, which is L’s favorite superhero. They would draw fun pictures on the dry erase board in the room. They did so many things to make this not-so-fun thing into a fun experience for our son.

In the future, he will know he had cancer but won’t remember the hard radiation treatment. He is going to remember the fun things he got to do when he visited his friend every morning. They made this experience so much easier for our son and for us, and we are so very thankful!