Last May, in the midst of a blossoming spring, I wrote about my son, Alex. I was looking forward to the promise of the new season with hope shining in my heart. Alex had been diagnosed with brain cancer, medulloblastoma, the year before. His prognosis was so encouraging and his disease under control. Or so we thought.
On May 13, we learned his cancer had returned, this time in his spine. It would eventually spread to his brain and take his life. I wanted to share Alex’s story once again because May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month. Alex was only 16 years old when he died. He was full of hopes and dreams, like all of us. But he was also fully aware he was dying.
He was never bitter. Quite the opposite — he was always so sweet and courageous. He felt that he simply had “bad luck.” Alex loved children and was most worried about the young friends he had made.
When his prognosis was good, he thought about becoming a pediatrician, maybe even an oncologist. He was very bright and was always asking questions. The one thing he could not understand was why children’s cancer research only receives $4 out of every $100 spent on adult cancers.
He knew that more adults get cancer, but he also knew that more years of life are lost due to children’s cancers. The average child who dies from cancer is 8 years old. He also knew that almost every childhood cancer is considered “bad luck” and has nothing to do with lifestyle choices. These facts affected him so much that he asked that all of the donations that were given to our family go directly toward childhood cancer research.
Our town of Oceanport and surrounding communities rallied around us, and through the Kortney Rose Foundation and fundraisers held elsewhere, more than $170,000 has been donated to pediatric cancer research in Alex’s name.
My family will be forever proud of our Alex, nicknamed “Champ.” In his final days, he was not focusing on himself, but on all of the ones he loved and all of the ones who needed help around him.
This spring is not the promising haven we envisioned for our family, but our wish is that any child who receives a cancer diagnosis will smell the sweet flowers and be able to look forward to all of the springtime smiles that each and every one of them deserves.
To help those with pediatric cancer, donations may be made to the Kortney Rose Foundation at www.thekortneyrosefoundation.org or to the Hannah Duffy Foundation at www.hannahduffy.org. Both foundations belong to local mothers who lost their daughters to brain cancer. A Facebook page in memory of Alex is titled “The Champ’s Corner – Alex Muñoz.”
Laura Muñoz
Oceanport