Featured Family Story
This is the story of the Zammit Family of Deltona: mom Shawna, dad Rick, and sons Nathan and Logan in their own words.
The morning of February 29, 2008, was one of the worst days that we have ever had to come to grips with. As parents, you raise your children to do and to be the best they can be, but when your 16-year-old son has been diagnosed with a brain tumor called Anaplastic Oligoastrcytoma, this will set your life back many of thousands of steps.
The only sign he had was headaches. We did as any parent would do and took him to his pediatrician, and we were told that he could be a migraine suffer. We had blood work done, and even took him to the eye doctor, and he had 20/20 vision. Blood work came back fine. An MRI was scheduled.
We did not make it to theappointment. Nathan woke us up about 1:00 in the morning screaming in pain. We took him to the ER, and they ran a CT scan and found a mass the size of an orange. His status was critical at this point, and the Arnold Palmer Air Care team was on their way to get him. We went with lights and sirens screaming, down I-4 doing about 85 mph. Our ambulance driver told me that we were going straight to ICU.
Our Neurosurgeon Dr. Pattisapu, told us that Nathan was going to surgery. Dr. “P” showed up with his team and spoke to us about what they were going to do. They were going to try to remove some of the tumor. Dr. “P” told us that our charming 16-year-old son could possibly come out of surgery with a V-tube down his throat, and might not be able to speak to us for about a week. That was more than we could bear. His surgery lasted more than 4 hours. When he came out of surgery, we expected the worse. When Dr. “P” talked with us after surgery, much to his amazement, Nate was alert, talking to people, and begging for something to drink.
Please keep in mind we had been up since 1:00 that morning. We did not have a change of clothes, nor the normal hygiene things that a person would need. We were all very tired, and needed a shower. Nathan’s favorite nurse told us about the Ronald McDonald House, and asked if we would be interested in staying there. We were in our room there by 5:00 that evening. The staff was WONDERFUL. They showed us around, and told us that dinner was provided at 6:30 almost every night. We had access to a washer and dryer. Our prayers were being answered, and God opened the door for us and provided us with the RMH. We were there for 5 days. Nathan did so well we got out of ICU that Sunday evening, yes, this was after brain surgery on Friday.
When leaving the hospital we knew that we would be back to the RMH, because Nate needed another surgery. When they did his first surgery, his brain was so swollen that when they removed his bone plate in his head they could not put it back. It was being preserved for him for round #2.
The 2nd surgery was scheduled put the bone plate back in. They were not able to do this at this time, but were able to remove another 2” x 2” section of his tumor. Nathan was in the hospital for 10 days at this time; 8 days in ICU. We stayed at the RMH the whole time.
Nathan started his radiation treatments and they continued Monday-Friday for 33 days. After his radiation treatment, chemotherapy began, and continued for 42 days.
We do not have any idea what we would have done without the RMH. We can go and just lie down and rest and take a hot shower before returning to the hospital. We often spoke with other families we had met. We all want to know how each other’s child is doing. To walk out of your room and smell cookies baking, and see the resources that have been provided to us, is beyond what we could have imagined.
I had always put my loose change in the buckets at McDonald’s, but to ever think that we would need this place, never crossed my mind. What everyone does to help the families at the Ronald McDonald House is something that is beyond a thank you. The families who stay there will never stop helping their children, so please do not stop helping families like ours.
We have another surgery ahead of us still, to put the bone plate back in Nathan’s skull. We also have to take a trip to Shands hospital in Gainesville so we can start the harvesting of Nathan’s stem cells.
Nathan is the most wonderful, and positive 16-year-olds you could ever meet. We know that God has a path for him to follow, and part of his life path is to beat the obstacles that God has set before him. You know what? He will jump all the obstacles.
Nathan asked us when he was diagnosed, why this happened to him? We told him that we did not have the answer to this, but said, “We have a big marathon to run, and we will all be there running right beside you,” he looked at us and smiled and said, “Okay, I will go get my running shoes.” We are all running “Nathan’s Marathon” and could not do it without all of you, waiting for us at the finish line, cheering us on all the way!”
