My Hero, Our Hero

Let me tell you a little about Ted.

He is a young man I have never met. On September 20th of 2006, there was a post on a forum that I frequent asking for some healing energy and prayers for Ted. Ted was 14 and in the hospital fighting leukemia for the third time since he was 12. He was in a special hospital in Minnesota, miles away from home in Chicago, waiting for a stem cell transplant from Europe.

Over the next few months, Ted received radiation therapy. The cells in his mouth did not regenerate because of this, he had a fever and an infection. He was totally sedated with a pulmonary hemorrhage. His body did start to recover and produce its own white blood cells, but then his kidneys started to fail from all the medication. He received white blood cells from his mother to help him heal. They started weaning him off the ventilator and the meds that kept him sedated. He got another lung infection and a bladder infection, but was moved out of ICU. An oral infection caused the tissue along his gum line to die. Halfway through December, his leukemia was in full remission.

On December 20th, Ted turned 15 and was back in ICU with another infection. He apologized to his family for them being in the hospital with him at Christmas. They managed to relieve the pain he was in, and replaced his dead jawbone with a titanium one. By the end of January, he was still cancer-free, and the doctors were talking about sending him to a hospital closer to home for recovery.

February 22nd, they found bacteria in Ted's lungs. In a matter of days he was on a ventilator again and fully sedated. His parents signed a do not resuscitate order. Yesterday, his pain ended.

Ted won his fight. His cancer was in remission and he is now free of the pain of his long battle. This child had more strength and courage than anyone I have ever known. Even from the distance that I was, I saw his amazing ability to be selfless. I know the next path his soul will take will be incredible beyond words.