“The blessing is that both sons have managed to get through all of this in good spirits. The recipe like life itself is pretty simple: faith, attitude and humor. Even our dog, Heidi, took a turn at helping Nick out!”
Nick has a gift and a spirit about him that is difficult to comprehend and often not spoken about. You could not count on one hand the times that he has complained about pain, discomfort or challenges. This is a kid who has fought the disease three times, lost an eye, lost his ability to taste food twice, lost up to 25% of his body weight, endured 42 weeks of chemotherapy, lost teeth and bone in the upper portion of his mouth, has a hole in the roof of his mouth, lost his ability to speak and lived on ice coffee and a milk shake for the last week and a half of his radiation treatment.
Nick’s brother Joey has been on this journey with Nick since the first cancer. Not enough can be said about Joey’s strength to get through all of this especially as he completes his senior year and is college bound. So much is written about the pressures faced by teens growing up today and adding a younger brother with cancer to the ‘mix’ is a tall order. Joey takes it in stride and is always at Nick’s side ready to do whatever it takes to help out on the journey.