About two months ago, 11-year-old Nick Austin thought he was battling late-stage Hodgkin lymphoma, with his chance of survival at 60 to 80 percent.

But the Brown County boy got some good news when his parents took him to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., for a second opinion.

“At St. Jude, they were just tremendous. They were very thorough,” said Nick’s dad, Andy Austin, who lives near Timewell but is a member of the Quincy Rotary Club.

Surgery revealed that Nick’s cancer had not spread to his lung, as was suspected, and he learned that his disease was a low-stage cancer, a stage 2 instead of a stage 4, which meant his chance for survival jumped to 95 percent. “That was a much better prognosis,” Andy said.

Nick has been enrolled in a research study at St. Jude to test newer risk-adapted therapies to determine if it is possible to reduce the amount of treatment, which should reduce the long-term side effects of heart and lung disease and second cancers, and still maintain cure rates.

“They’re trying to scale back the amount of chemotherapy and radiation to a degree that takes care of the cancer, but doesn’t leave (the patient) with long-term side effects,” Andy said.

Nick started chemotherapy at the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in Peoria about six weeks ago. He goes there once a week, and the treatment takes three to four hours.  “That allows us to drive just under two hours rather than seven and a half to eight hours to go to Memphis,” Andy said. “It’s a very nice facility there, as well.”

After Nick finishes 16 weeks of chemotherapy in Peoria, he’ll return to Memphis to determine if radiation therapy is necessary. If so, he’ll get three weeks of treatment in Memphis.

“Hopefully that does the trick,” his dad said.

It’s been an emotional roller-coaster for Andy and Nick’s mom, Amy Austin, who lives near Mount Sterling. But they’ve had tremendous support from St. Jude, and they want to do what they can to support the hospital.  When the Austins found out about the St. Jude Quincy to Peoria Run, in which participants start in Quincy and run relay-style 135 miles to Peoria to raise money for St. Jude, they wanted to tell their story and encourage people to donate.

“St. Jude is a huge benefit to us. Anything we can do to benefit St. Jude, we want to do that,” Andy said.

St. Jude, founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas, is the first institution established for the sole purpose of conducting basic and clinical research and treatment into catastrophic childhood diseases, mainly cancer.

Since its founding, St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to more than 70 percent overall. The survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, has gone from 4 percent to 94 percent.

The hospital freely shares its research with health-care facilities around the world.

In addition, St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. The hospital also pays for lodging, food and travel for patients and their families.

“When we have to stay there, they have temporary housing, which is phenomenal,” Andy said. “That really helps, being right there on campus. The doctors and staff there are tremendous. When you go there, they’re taking care of not just Nick, but the whole family.”

Nick’s doctor, Dr. Monika Metzger, gave the family her cell phone number and even called while on a trip to Switzerland to find out how Nick was doing.

“If I ever have a question, all I have to do is call her cell phone,” Andy said. “They’re there for you.”

Andy also has been impressed by the fact that doctors and staff talk directly to Nick about his situation and involve him in treatment decisions.

“They’ll follow Nick for the rest of his life,” Andy added, and said that the trips to Memphis will be worth it because “this research is going to help other kids down the road.”

He knows that people are asked for money for various charities, but he hopes they’ll consider donating to St. Jude.

“With children, cancer is something they don’t deserve,” Andy said. “St. Jude is fighting for them, fighting to find cures to take care of them. St. Jude just does so much wonderful work, and they share what they learn with everyone. Everything they develop, they share with the rest of the world.”

Nick appreciates what St. Jude is doing for him.

“I think it’s really, really good for all the kids that go there,” said Nick, who will be a sixth-grader at Brown County Middle School in the fall. “They’re really good. They will get things done right, and they will make you better.”

By Kelly Wilson
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Posted in Kid's Stories