Meet Dawson and hear his story in the words of his Mom.
As fall approaches we can’t help but become a little triggered, slightly emotional and yet so grateful and thankful that we are where we are right now in this moment. Dawson was diagnosed with osteosarcoma his junior year of high school. What started out as a football injury turned into so much more. After a second x-ray was taken a few weeks after the first to check on why his leg wasn’t getting any better, we were told that there was a mass spotted on Dawson’s left leg. He had an MRI the very next day at 10 in the morning and by 3:30 that afternoon we were listening to the possibility of the mass being cancer. Scans were being sent to Mayo and within 2 days we were assigned a medical id number and scheduled for early October for bloodwork, CT scans and biopsies.
October 3rd will always haunt us. This was when it was confirmed that Dawson had cancer. My heart aches writing those words and reliving that moment. No parent wants to hear the words, “your child has cancer.” He was ordered not to put any weight on his leg and went from an active guy loving to hunt, play football, throw in track, play pickleball and weight lift to pretty much being sedentary. No time to process and no time to feel, because darn it- we needed to suit up for battle.
Dawson received almost all of his chemo treatments at Sanford in Fargo. We were blessed to have the absolute best oncologists, nurses and support staff. Sanford became our second home as his treatments would begin on Wednesdays and go through Friday and/or Saturday 3 weeks in a row with a 2 week break for 8 long months. Just a few weeks on finding out about the tumor, we also were told that there would be a high probability that Dawson would be losing some of his leg to ensure that they would be able to remove all the cancer in and around his knee. Talk about one blow after another. After much consideration on options, Dawson made the decision to go with a surgery called rotationplasty. Essentially what this means is that the surgeon removed a “block” from his leg (above and below the knee) while keeping the bottom part of his leg and turning it backwards so that his heel would now act as his knee. This would give him the best range of motion and abilities to do all the hobbies that he loves within time.
January 2, 2024 Dawson had a 16.5 hour surgery to complete the amputation/rotationplasty procedure down in Mayo with another amazing medical team. After a week down there in recovery we were back at home and at the end of January we were back down at Mayo again. His incision had come open and another surgery as well as a wound vac placement was done.
Fast forward to May 2024 where Dawson got to ring the bell and celebrate the completion of chemo! What a joyous time! What we didn’t know is that Dawson’s wound from the original surgery would still not be closed/heal. We will be forever grateful to the wound care team at Sanford and at Altru for their continuous care for an entire year. It was decided that due to an ongoing infection that wasn’t ridding itself and allowing the wound to fully heal, that another surgery would need to be scheduled for January 2025. They removed the rod in his leg and changed it out for an antibiotic rod. This did the trick! Thank you, Jesus! With the wound finally closed and healed- he could finally get fitted for his prosthesis! The Hanger Clinic in Rochester has been wonderful to work with and in April- Dawson was finally able to wear his new leg! He went through an intensive physical therapy program at Mayo for 2 weeks to learn how to walk, stand and climb steps again! A month later he graduated from high school and now will attend NDSU this fall. After that he plans on going to Seminary!
We have been so blessed by our families, friends, our church and our communities both in Grand Forks and in Fargo. What an honor to be a part of the Landon’s Light Foundation family. We are so grateful and thankful for life, the simple pleasures, the not taking things for granted, the boring mundane days and the get to be at home days! Without our faith we would’ve never been able to get through this the way we did. We thank God every day for this beautiful, broken hearted, joyous, devastating time. Dawson’s journey has introduced us to so many families who have become friends that were going through the unthinkable too. It has opened our eyes to wonderful organizations and foundations such as Landon’s Light and opportunities to help spread joy, give back and sprinkle kindness for you never know what a person/family is going through. We will continue to fight, advocate and teach about childhood cancer and the lack of funding given to research. God is good all the time.
Please keep Dawson and his entire family in your prayers.