A STORY OF HOPE: Faith prevails in child's battle with cancer

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Sept. 20, 2007

Andres Yescas lit a devotional candle that sits upon the adoration shelf in his family dining room. He paused to petition the Virgin Mary for continued protection and offer a word of thanks to God for all that the Lord has done for him.

The Yescas family has much to be thankful for as well as reason to ask for continued prayers.

Andres, the son of Tammy and Armando Yescas, is a fourth-grade student at Sacred Heart School in Sioux City. He was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer - osteosarcoma - in August of 2006. It was in his right leg, just above the knee.

The 9-year-old boy has been through a year filled with chemotherapy, numerous doctor and hospital visits, tests and a major surgery.

It was also a year of spiritual growth for the entire family.

The first symptoms

Tammy recalled how it all started. She noticed a change in Andres during soccer camp in July of 2006. Andres would be sitting down when she came to pick him up even though he spoke enthusiastically about that camp. She knew that wasn't like her son. While visiting his grandmother in Des Moines, he had such severe pain in his leg that it woke him in the night.

"The pain was like a knife," remembered Andres.

The Yescas didn't think it was very serious - thought maybe their son was sleeping wrong. Soon after, Andres fell as he walked to the store with his older brother Javier. Andres told his mom that his leg gave out.

At the time he had a mosquito bite on his leg and the doctor thought possibly it was irritated and caused the pain.

"Then he woke for the first time here in the night, reporting pain and the way he cried was very attention getting," said Tammy. She called it an inconsolable pain.

They went to the doctor a second time, but the doctor didn't find any apparent problems.

On the third trip to the doctor, Tammy requested an X-ray. The next day they were scheduled to meet with a doctor to hear the results, so she suspected something was wrong.

"God really picked the right person to tell us because he was exceptionally compassionate," said Tammy.

Andres was then referred to an Omaha oncologist who confirmed the osteosarcoma.

"There are only 400 kids diagnosed with this form of cancer nationwide every year and he was one of them," said Tammy.

Andres, well informed about the cancer, said this type of cancer can form in arms, legs, chest - anywhere.

Sarcomas are considered extremely aggressive and sometimes lethal forms of cancer.

Treatment begins

Three months of pre-surgery chemotherapy ensued with hopes of shrinking the tumor.

A woman of action with a background in biochemistry and research, Tammy began to research the type of surgery that most likely would follow and they began to interview surgeons. The first two suggested rotation-plasty which involves amputating the leg and rotating it with the foot facing backwards so the ankle could be used in place of the knee joint. A prosthesis is used for the bottom portion of the leg. She wasn't satisfied with that option so continued to investigate alternatives.

She found a surgeon in Iowa City who performs a cutting-edge surgery called repiphysis. Andres had the surgery on Nov. 22. With this method, the knee was replaced as was a portion of the femur, but there was no amputation. It will require extensive maintenance as extenders will have to be adjusted possibly about every two to three months depending on his growth. Eventually a titanium rod will be placed in his leg and future knee replacements are likely every 10 to 15 years.

"I feel like God directed this because I felt an overwhelming relief when I saw there was an alternative," said Tammy.

While the surgery was successful, they learned that the pre-surgery chemo hadn't been as successful as they had hoped. The tumor had grown.

"At that point, I was having a hard time practicing my faith because I thought, 'What does God think I'm going to talk to him about when look what he did to my son. Why not me? Why my son?,'" Tammy questioned.

She explained that with osteosarcoma it is not the primary tumor that usually kills. The cancer becomes lethal when it metastasizes and spreads to the lungs, other bones and throughout the body. Since it hadn't shrunk with pre-surgery chemo, there are added worries that it may have metastasized.

And then there was hope

After hearing that news, Tammy became overwhelmed with emotion and she fell to her living room floor.

"I just cried and one of the balloons that had been lying on the floor for four or five days just lifted off the ground. I sat up and said, 'Are you trying to talk to me God?' The helium was completely gone," she said. That brought hope.

Javier said he had a similar experience.

Another sign of hope came from a family in Iowa City that was filled with faith through their son's battle with brain cancer. By coincidence or possibly God's divine plan, they spoke of a girl who had the same surgery as Andres.

"I was thinking, 'No, this is a very unique surgery. Maybe you are just confused,'" said Tammy.

The next day, the girl visited the hospital.

Andres said she had the same scar, in the same leg and had the same surgery with the same surgeon.

Tammy found those events to be proof that God was saying, "I see that you are feeling pretty sorry for yourself. But behold my power and take courage and hope right here."

It was as if God were calling her to lean on him for strength that she needed to give her son.

Tammy said she often found strength in Andres' example.

"He was the bravest kid you've ever seen. He was an absolute soldier," she said.

Andres said he was never mad at God. He was sad at times, but not mad.

"I didn't really understand why it happened," he said.

Following the surgery, Andres went through six months of strong chemo treatments. This Monday Andres will have his first chest CT. Tammy admittedly is worried about what they could find.

But hope is powerful. She said that is what they use to fight cancer.

"It is our main weapon," added Andres.

School support

Prayers offered by the Sacred Heart School family helped the Yescas through the ups and downs of this trial.

"Every time my hope started to fall a little bit, there was always someone who was willing to give me the hope back," said Tammy. "I borrowed their will and hope many times when it felt overwhelming."

Andres has been back in school since the start of this school year, but last year he missed many days. Students would send him words of encouragement through the Caring Bridge Web site. Andres said he received about 4,000 messages through the Internet.

Javier mentioned that Andres was often included in petitions offered at school over the intercom in morning prayer and during the school Masses.

"I believe that God has helped us get through this - things that are hard," said Javier. "I know that I can trust him."

Along with prayer-filled support, the school held fundraisers and one family from Sacred Heart even started a benefit fund for them at Pioneer Bank. That account remains open today. The Yescas continue to welcome donations to that fund as trips to Iowa City are costly.

Tammy cannot say enough about the support offered by the school's guidance counselor, Mary Uhl. The counselor was there to listen and offer encouragement to the family along with Andres.

Support also came from other organizations such as Children's Comfort Care, a division of Hospice.

"The Child Life people helped me a lot," said Andres. They are specialists who play with children with cancer and their siblings.

Tammy referred to the network of supporters as Team Dres (taken from Andres full name) and its members range from family and medical professionals to the school, friends, the church and more.

Dad Armando said people from his work at Menu Food also have been very supportive.

Faith explosion

Tammy acknowledged that they were not very strong Catholics prior to Andres' illness but through these struggles their faith has truly grown.

Since there were many times when Andres was too ill to go to Mass, they made it a point to pray together in the home.

Armando said they know how important it is to turn to God.

"I have found an incredible amount of strength knowing that I can take anything to God," said Tammy. "Part of what an increase in faith has brought me to see is that there are a lot of people who need help.

They watch religious TV programming, read inspirational literature and have discussions centered on the faith.

And now when they go to Mass, it isn't merely to check it off as if it were on a list of tasks to be completed. Tammy said they now get so much more out of the liturgy.

It was in this last year that Armando built the adoration shelf with the help of his sons. Shelves like this are a tradition in the homes of Hispanic families.

"It was like a test faith. We couldn't find the rail to go around the edge. Piece by piece the shelf came together - almost like as our faith grew," described Tammy.

Andres compared it to a budding flower.

Along with devotional candles to Mary and Jesus, the shelf holds plaques containing the Our Father and Ten Commandments in Spanish. They often place fresh flowers on the shelf as a gift to Mary.

Tammy said she feels close to Mary as they are both mothers who had to see their sons suffer.

While there is reason to center their prayers on their family, she said they often pray for others.

"With my eyes of faith, I try hard to visualize Andres happy, healthy, going about his future," said Tammy.

His future looks bright. He recently ran in gym class and climbed a rock wall. This surpasses doctors' expectations at this point.

"I'm just an active kid," said Andres.