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Sharing Colt's Story

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Kathy Becker is a Boyertown, Berks County native, who has spent her professional life working in college basketball. For the last few years she has worked as Director of Basketball Operations for the women's basketball team at Clemson University, living in South Carolina with her husband Pete and two young boys, Colt and Paxton.

About 18 months ago, though, the Beckers got some devastating news about the youngest member of their family.

"About three weeks after Colt's first birthday, June of 2014, we noticed that he had become very lethargic and his legs started to get purple and blue, so we got really worried," Becker tells KYW Newsradio. "Took him to the pediatrician and at first he was like, 'We'll set you up with some physical therapy and a neurologist.' We didn't even get home from that appointment, she called back and was like, 'I talked to a neurologist and we think you guys need to be admitted to the children's hospital tonight.' So we turned around and took Colt back to the hospital and after a night of tests, on the morning of June 18th, he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which is a rare pediatric cancer which was encompassing his stomach."

Listen to the entire interview with Kathy Becker

 

Becker says Colt was diagnosed as Stage 4, high risk, which meant a 50/50 survival rate. For the next several months, they dealt with life on a day-to-day basis.

"It was chemo every three weeks for the first seven, eight months," Becker says. "We were in the hospital every three weeks, we had appointments every week. We were driving to Greenville, which is about a thirty minute drive from Clemson. Sometimes we would go and they would be like, 'We need you to come back two days later.' So we really were just going day-by-day, but also trying to make things normal for our four-year-old Paxton, he was three at the time, didn't really understand what was going on either, so we were trying to keep things normal for him as well. So we were having to trade out nights in the hospital, go back and forth and do our work in the hospital at odd times. But it really was kind of survival mode and you just do what you have to do."

And Becker says they were dealing with constant uncertainty.

"Through the first eight cycles of chemo, his tumor shrunk marginally," Becker says. "They did tests every couple months and it wasn't shrinking. It wasn't getting bigger, but it wasn't shrinking. So that was very frustrating."

Eventually, the journey led them to Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York where young Colt would eventually undergo surgery by one of the country's top doctors.

"We went up there in February (2015) and after a 12-hour surgery, he removed a softball-sized tumor from Colt's stomach," Becker says. "And removed all of the cancer."

Colt still has to have regular doctor's appointments, and will have to for quite some time to make sure there is no re-occurrence of the cancer, but Becker says her little boy is doing great.

"If you didn't know any better, you would have no idea (of what he'd dealt with)," Becker says. "He is just a fun-loving, wild and crazy two-and-a-half year old. Talking up a storm, following everything that his big brother does. Loves Mickey Mouse, loves basketball and football and all the sports. Has really caught up in the last seven, eight months. His personality is starting to shine through."

Becker and her family are sharing Colt's story in hopes of raising awareness about neuroblastoma and draw attention to the fact that pediatric cancer gets significantly less federal funding than adult cancers.

The family also wants other parents dealing with something like this to know they aren't alone and Becker has advice for parents dealing with the long, difficult journey of childhood cancer.

"Once you're going through something like this, you have to learn to lean on people," Becker says. "You can't so no to people making you dinner or coming by to help you with the kids. You have to be able to lean on people because that's how you get through it. By the relationships that you have, and the trust that you have in humanity really."

So how has Colt's story changed Becker and her family?

"I think we have a great appreciation for our friends and families and neighbors that just totally stood by for us for the whole process," Becker says. "Gave us so much support and love and on top of that I think we just have a greater appreciation for life and not stressing about the small stuff and not letting the little things effect us or bother us. If you can kick cancer's butt, there's nothing you can't do."

For more information please check out www.chaseafteracure.com which is raising awareness and research funds for childhood cancer.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

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