Kevin was a happy little boy until the day he was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia at the young age of 3.
The whole family was thrown into a tailspin involving hospital visits, chemotherapy and an amount of radiation that the government later banned because it was too much for the brain, especially in a child. This was a three-year protocol.
At the age of 5, Kevin was diagnosed with testicular cancer which left him sterile and for the rest of his life, he would need testosterone shots, or he would mentally and physically revert to 16 years of age.
Kevin relapsed with ALL Leukemia when he was 7 years old having just stopped the chemotherapy months prior.
Brain cells are the only cells in our body that do not replicate. Kevin's radiation left him with huge craters in his brain, which forced him to learn everything in an alternative manner. His maturity level is at 20 years of age.
The medical team told me that he would never be able to live on his own, be able to drive, count money or hold down a job. I never bought into that theory and continued to work and drive him to the best of his ability.
After finishing his treatments, he completed high school with his class. By this time, he held down a job and was able to drive and ventured out to his own apartment.
Slowly, in time, things were not adding up. Kevin had become addicted to drugs, just to fit in with his younger peers. One morning, I discovered Kevin downstairs in our house, in a drug induced coma. At the hospital, the doctors kept him in a coma for a week to rid his body of the toxins-then into an inhouse treatment center.
Kevin eventually married, which after 10 years ended in divorce because his wife had been mentally abusing him for years.
Kevin will be 48 years old in 2024. He lives on his own, has a very good job at a children's hospital and is appreciating his life day by day.
I am so proud of my son, Kevin.
-Casey Clark
