Nick Fogu
Our 15-year-old son, Nick, was diagnosed with a rare form of muscle cancer called embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma at his yearly physical in November 2022. To say
that the last few months have been a roller coaster would be a huge understatement. Nick has had 2 surgeries before Christmas and then a third on 2/10/23 to remove all affected areas and prepare his body for radiation therapy. On Tuesday 8/22/23, he had his fourth surgery to remove the port that administered the chemotherapy medications and reverse the organ movement that was done to protect it from radiation therapy. He started 24 rounds of chemotherapy on 12/20/22 at Golisano Hospital’s Center for pediatric cancer and because of the type of cancer that Nick was diagnosed with, he required the use of a special type of radiation, called proton radiation. Unfortunately, Syracuse does not have that type of radiation so, in early March and at the half-way point of chemotherapy, Nick moved to Boston for 5 weeks for daily radiation treatments lasting over an hour each day. My wife and I altered our weeks with him to keep some “normalcy” for our 12-year-old daughter, Annabelle.
“To say that the last few months have been a roller coaster would be a huge understatement.”
After radiation was complete, Nick returned back home to finish his chemotherapy locally. Prior to his diagnosis, Nick was very active with sports that included soccer, golf, and tennis. Due to his diagnosis, he was forced to stop all of his activities and because of his immunosuppressed system, required home-schooling since November. However, since then, Nick has had negative scans at his first round of quarterly MRIs and is looking to return to Baker High School as a Junior in September! We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for the unwavering support EVERYONE has extended to us throughout our son’s cancer diagnosis this year. Your continued presence, encouragement, and assistance have been invaluable to us, even during the most difficult moments, and we cannot thank you enough. Though the journey for our son is far from over, we are so grateful to have arrived here with no chemo, radiation, and clear scans! Sincerely, Brian and Julie Fogu
