MONROE - Ten-year-old Brayden Lincicum, Juda, has had seven birthdays since he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2003. If things continue to go well, this August he will be deemed free of cancer.
Brayden served as an honorary co-chairman, along with Monsignor Thomas Campion, at the annual Green County Relay for Life, taking place Friday and today at the Monroe High School track.
Everyone Deserves Another Birthday is the theme for this year's event.
His mother, Nicole Lincicum, said her son will probably wonder why everyone will be looking at him. Diagnosed at age 3, Brayden doesn't remember much about the rigors of treatment he went through for about a year.
"He was so young," his mother said. "He just got up in the morning and wanted to play with his toys."
But Brayden's youthful approach to life brought a lesson to his parents.
"Never let anything hold you back," Nicole said. "Basically, a strong fight can beat it. Dwelling on it tears you apart."
Nicole said the year-long treatment, and even for some time afterward, was a "really, really hard road."
She and her husband, Randy, handled the tragedy in different ways.
"It was hard on him," she said about her husband, who drives demolition cars. "He had lost all control; there was nothing he could fix, not like something mechanical, not like car brakes."
"I just did what they (medical professionals) told me to do," she added. "I wanted to keep him home as much as possible."
Nicole took off a year from her job at Stoughton Trailers, and, with no previous medical training, became Brayden's primary medical caretaker. She had no idea of what to do, so she asked the doctors and nurses to show her and wrote down all the instructions.
"It's nothing you ever prepare yourself for. You never see yourself doing something like this for your child," she added, "but you will find a way - nothing is more important than your child."
Administering Brayden's medications and chemotherapy at home became a natural routine for Nicole. She flushed his Hickman line, an intravenous catheter used long-term for administering chemotherapy or other medications, to keep it open and accessible, and used the drip IV machine at home.
"I administered his IV medications, every 2, 4, 6, 8 hours, whenever it was needed, and overnight," she said. "I did anything to keep him in the home."
Brayden made many trips to the hospital at UW-Madison as well, more than Nicole can remember.
And when his "cute blond curls" started to fall out and get in to his eyes and mouth, Nicole and Randy held him down to shave off the remaining locks.
"Then I just waited for the stubble to fall out," she said.
Chemotherapy also broke down Brayden's natural immunity, and the family got used to staying at home to protect him from other diseases. When he did go out in public, he wore a medical mask - and people stared.
Nicole is sure people didn't mean to stare.
"But I learned something: Look away," she said.
When Brayden was allowed to go back to daycare, Nicole discovered he was still susceptible to diseases.
"It was one thing after another," she said. "I took him to the hospital for an ear infection one Friday and on Monday, he came down with chicken pox."
Nicole said she understands how some couples do not stay together through the stress and turmoil that comes with caring for a child with cancer: Besides the emotional and physical stress, finances are stressed with the costs of co-payments, medicines, gasoline and vehicle maintenance.
"Our savings is gone," she said.
But Brayden has not been burdened with such adult concerns.
"Just talking to him, no one would have a clue he was ever sick," Nicole said. "But he has some central nervous system damage and short-term memory loss."
Other than a few problems in school, where he takes some special education classes, Brayden is like any other active boy.
"He likes baseball, and working on demolition derby cars, and his grandpa's John Deere tractors, and go-carts," Nicole said.
And Brayden has a future career in mind. He wants to be a member of a pit crew for demolition cars.
That's something his father will be able to help him with.
Brayden served as an honorary co-chairman, along with Monsignor Thomas Campion, at the annual Green County Relay for Life, taking place Friday and today at the Monroe High School track.
Everyone Deserves Another Birthday is the theme for this year's event.
His mother, Nicole Lincicum, said her son will probably wonder why everyone will be looking at him. Diagnosed at age 3, Brayden doesn't remember much about the rigors of treatment he went through for about a year.
"He was so young," his mother said. "He just got up in the morning and wanted to play with his toys."
But Brayden's youthful approach to life brought a lesson to his parents.
"Never let anything hold you back," Nicole said. "Basically, a strong fight can beat it. Dwelling on it tears you apart."
Nicole said the year-long treatment, and even for some time afterward, was a "really, really hard road."
She and her husband, Randy, handled the tragedy in different ways.
"It was hard on him," she said about her husband, who drives demolition cars. "He had lost all control; there was nothing he could fix, not like something mechanical, not like car brakes."
"I just did what they (medical professionals) told me to do," she added. "I wanted to keep him home as much as possible."
Nicole took off a year from her job at Stoughton Trailers, and, with no previous medical training, became Brayden's primary medical caretaker. She had no idea of what to do, so she asked the doctors and nurses to show her and wrote down all the instructions.
"It's nothing you ever prepare yourself for. You never see yourself doing something like this for your child," she added, "but you will find a way - nothing is more important than your child."
Administering Brayden's medications and chemotherapy at home became a natural routine for Nicole. She flushed his Hickman line, an intravenous catheter used long-term for administering chemotherapy or other medications, to keep it open and accessible, and used the drip IV machine at home.
"I administered his IV medications, every 2, 4, 6, 8 hours, whenever it was needed, and overnight," she said. "I did anything to keep him in the home."
Brayden made many trips to the hospital at UW-Madison as well, more than Nicole can remember.
And when his "cute blond curls" started to fall out and get in to his eyes and mouth, Nicole and Randy held him down to shave off the remaining locks.
"Then I just waited for the stubble to fall out," she said.
Chemotherapy also broke down Brayden's natural immunity, and the family got used to staying at home to protect him from other diseases. When he did go out in public, he wore a medical mask - and people stared.
Nicole is sure people didn't mean to stare.
"But I learned something: Look away," she said.
When Brayden was allowed to go back to daycare, Nicole discovered he was still susceptible to diseases.
"It was one thing after another," she said. "I took him to the hospital for an ear infection one Friday and on Monday, he came down with chicken pox."
Nicole said she understands how some couples do not stay together through the stress and turmoil that comes with caring for a child with cancer: Besides the emotional and physical stress, finances are stressed with the costs of co-payments, medicines, gasoline and vehicle maintenance.
"Our savings is gone," she said.
But Brayden has not been burdened with such adult concerns.
"Just talking to him, no one would have a clue he was ever sick," Nicole said. "But he has some central nervous system damage and short-term memory loss."
Other than a few problems in school, where he takes some special education classes, Brayden is like any other active boy.
"He likes baseball, and working on demolition derby cars, and his grandpa's John Deere tractors, and go-carts," Nicole said.
And Brayden has a future career in mind. He wants to be a member of a pit crew for demolition cars.
That's something his father will be able to help him with.