Easton Adams’ mom, Kate proudly shows a photo of her son from a recent hockey game. He’s flashing a smile, wearing a giant cowboy hat. The sobering reality is that Easton has not yet lost a tooth, but he has been in cancer treatment at CHEO for two years for B Cell Acute lymphocytic leukemia.
Easton is in the homestretch of treatment and set to ring the end-of-treatment bell in May. He has taken a pass on today’s interview – with much more important matters to attend to in senior kindergarten than talking about cancer.
But he is so much more than his diagnosis. “He’s thoughtful and kind,” Kate says. “And such a devoted big brother!” his dad Jordan adds, “He makes everyone smile and he’s a bright kid and so resilient!”
These days, Easton is at CHEO monthly for bloodwork, a lumbar puncture under general anesthetic every three months, and chemo pills at home, among other things. It is a little more manageable from when his parents first found themselves at CHEO, in January 2023, suddenly living in a waking nightmare.
An active three-year-old, Easton complained of his legs hurting during his Tae Kwon Do class and after waking up drenched in sweat, Kate took him to the doctor. Bloodwork and X-rays were ordered, and Kate took Easton to CHEO for the tests. They stopped for lunch, and Kate got a call, “Bring Easton back to the hospital – immediately.”
Kate was on maternity leave with Easton’s brother, Parker, who was just four months old. She called Jordan to pack a bag – just in case – and come to CHEO. They ended up staying on CHEO’s oncology unit for 13 days.
“I remember the drive to CHEO,” Jordan recalls. “And the moment Kate told me that Easton had cancer,” he says. “There is a pillar in the triage area of the Emergency department, and I dropped to the ground next to it.”
They were suddenly thrown deep into a new reality of procedures and medications, uncertainty and fear. Easton had to have a port-a-cath surgically implanted to administer chemotherapy. “The first time I saw the port sticking out of my son’s chest it was like a kick in the stomach and this was really happening” Jordan recalls.
Life became a blur. Kate and Jordan switching day to night at the hospital with Easton, while also caring for a newborn.
“Suddenly we knew the names of countless medications and chemotherapy drugs, what good and bad counts are; neutrophils and hemoglobin…” Kate says, her voice trailing off.
But the one thing that never changed: Easton kept smiling.
His CHEO Family swooped in! “They made us feel at home immediately,” Kate says with a smile and a tear in her eye. “The cancer hadn’t travelled to his organs or bones. They had a treatment plan and got to it.”
They were also completely overwhelmed by the support of the community, family, friends and strangers from near and far.
But how do you explain cancer to a three-year-old? Easton was Spiderman obsessed! “We leaned into that. We told him he had a bug in his blood and needed to come to CHEO to get rid of it. He had to be strong like Spiderman,” Jordan explains. “The medicine was helping him become a superhero,” Jordan adds. “Easton is truly the biggest superhero we know.”
Life at CHEO involves mutual admiration between Easton and his team: the nurses, child life specialists and Zedd, CHEO’s therapeutic clown. Whenever they are at CHEO, Easton wants to drop by the Medical Day Unit (MDU) and say ‘hi!’ to his CHEO family. He also says he wants to be an MDU doctor one day.
But even two years in, it’s a challenge. “You never expect it to be your kid, it shouldn’t be any kid,” Jordan points out. “As beautiful as it was that CHEO, our family and community rallied around us, I still wish it hadn’t been Easton.” “But if we can take a silver lining from this – it’s that CHEO was here to save him,” Kate says. “We have met some amazing people along the way.
There were the families who showed us the ropes. Now, when we see the newbies come, we try to pay that forward. It’s a club you don’t want to be a part of, but we are all here for each other.”
Easton is excited to lead Team East – also his Instagram handle (@support.team.east) – and be a part of the CN Cycle Dream Team and inspire support of cancer care at CHEO while he continues to kick Cancer’s butt – We’ll follow your lead, Easton!
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Charlie
