Community helped Ashwaubenon family beat cancer
Published: September 26, 2005
For relatives of Anthony Perdue, cancer is a family affair. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia was diagnosed in Anthony at age 2.
Now, three years later, he is cancer free and in kindergarten at Cormier School and Early Learning Center. He wants to be a firefighter when he grows up.
It’s a relief to have this behind them, said Anthony’s mother, Shawna, but now she wants to help other families in the same position. She works with the Families of Children with Cancer support group, which helped her.
“When Anthony was diagnosed, someone called us when we got home from the hospital. She talked about the medications and what we were going through. It helped me so much,” Shawna said.
The Perdues’ ordeal began in December 2002. Anthony was taken to the doctor because he had a fever and his leg and ankle hurt.
“We thought he might have a broken leg,” Shawna Purdue said. It wasn’t broken, and the doctor asked to recheck his blood work. That’s when he found the leukemia.
Every time Anthony developed a fever, he was hospitalized. He was hospitalized for chemo treatments as well. “At one point, he was in the hospital twice in three weeks,” Shawna said. “Every time that happened, this became a single-parent household. My husband (Gary) and I would alternate time at the hospital.”
Anthony’s brother, Max, would have to spend time with his grandparents.
“I’m glad it’s all over,” said Max, 10. “Sometimes I felt sad. Sometimes I felt left out.”
Before his brother got sick, his mother said, Max wanted to be a paleontologist. Now he wants to be a doctor.
“The hardest part,” she said, “was probably on my son, Max. I was making sure Anthony got everything he needed, but I also had to make sure Max got what he needed.
“I kid you not, the chemo was awful. It was hard for us to have a life. It’s hard to make plans. You have to isolate yourself. The first year, at Christmas, Anthony couldn’t be around people because his immune system was so vulnerable. I remember staying home with him while Max and his dad went to my mother-in-law’s house. They put the phone in the middle of the floor and I listened to them open presents.”
But the family found a support system in the Families of Children with Cancer that served as a lifeline, and “this has brought us closer together as a family,” Shawna said. “In March 2004, Max, my mom and I all showed up at an event to have our heads shaved to support cancer victims. I looked around and saw friends who went to high school with me and people who work with me and staff from Prevea. They were all there for us. I wouldn’t have met these people otherwise.”
Shawna wants to offer that same kind of support to others.
“I worked in a nursing home and people there died,” she said. “But, they were old and it was supposed to be that way. It’s different with your children.”
Anthony went through 13 hospital stays and 15 spinal taps in addition to the chemotherapy. When he was 3, Anthony met Elmo from “Sesame Street” through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
For each test or hospital visit, Anthony was given a bead to add to his “bravery beads.” He showed off the collection recently. “Look,” he said, “when I wear them, they aren’t quite all the way to the floor.”
Since July, he is cancer-free, though he still goes in for regular blood tests.
“He must be cancer-free for five years to be considered cured,” Shawna said.
Yet, every time he gets a fever or gets sick, his mother’s heart leaps. “I have to tell myself it’s not cancer; it’s just a childhood illness. The doctor told me that when I’m 90 and he’s 60, I’ll still worry about every fever,” she said.
“His age worked in his favor,” she said. “He didn’t really know what was happening. It breaks my heart to see teenagers suffering with cancer. They know what is going on. They have to go to school with no hair. They have to deal with peer pressure and school issues. They have so much more to worry about.”
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