He's her hero
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 29, 2015 1:46 PM
News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Suzy Hamilton and her son Dillyn, 2, joke around during play time in his room on Tuesday. Dillyn has recently lost his hair due to chemotherapy treatment, and his mother will be holding a fundraiser in honor of him and his friend Chase Hooker, another leukemia patient, on Friday that will include her shaving her head to match his.
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The benefit is also in honor of Chase Hooker, 4, who is one of this year's Relay for Life co-chairmen and is also battling leukemia.
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Dillyn shows off his new shark hat.
When Dillyn Hamilton, 2, was diagnosed with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, his mother Suzy made a pact -- when he lost his hair from the chemotherapy treatments, so would she.
So when Suzy leaves Morgan's Bar on 2715 E. Ash St. Friday night, her haircut will match her son's -- bald.
Suzy is holding a joint fundraiser Friday night with the family of Chase Hooker -- who also has childhood cancer and lives in Goldsboro -- where various items will be raffled off, barbecue plates will be sold and served and approximately a dozen people will step forward to shave their heads in solidarity with the two young boys undergoing aggressive cancer treatments.
"I said that I was going to do it when he first got diagnosed in September," Suzy said. "I was in the hospital with him and I had said something to his dad about shaving his head and he had said something about not doing it, so I said, 'Well, I guess I'll shave mine then.' He's never not had hair. He's always had hair. When he came out he had a full head of hair. So, I felt like it might be weird for him to not have hair. And when it came out, I thought we were past that part to be honest with you. When his hair came out I asked him, 'Do you want Mama to get a haircut, too?' And he said he did."
When Dillyn's hair came out after an aggressive round of treatment, consisting of chemotherapy, steroids and a series of heavy-duty drugs and shots, Suzy said his cancer became visible for the first time -- and it shook her.
"I was stuck in denial for a very long time, and that's a very safe place to be during all this because it is such a long process that if you break right off the bat, I mean, you just don't have an option to do that," Suzy said. "I try to stay as positive as possible for him and make it seem as normal as can be so that it seems like everyday life for him. When he lost his hair? That was rough. Because that was just reassuring me that he was sick."
Things for Suzy and Dillyn have been particularly rough during the past two weeks, when he was going through another series of aggressive, pain-inducing treatments.
"They didn't know what was wrong with him, he was in a lot of pain -- it was bad," Suzy said. "He didn't use the bathroom for eight days. When you have a fever, they start you off with an antibiotic that's supposed to cover everything. That didn't work for him. He was still running a fever and I've never seen him this bad. They put him on two other antibiotics, and he was still running a fever, and he couldn't poop. I don't know if you understand how that feels, but he was in a lot of pain. He was miserable, and I started feeling like they were missing something."
When Dillyn was first diagnosed on Sept. 13, 2014, doctors said his chance of survival at 85 to 90 percent. By October of the same year, those chances had dropped to 60 to 80 percent, where they have remained since.
"We are a month away from maintenance, which should slow things down a bit," Suzy said. "He'll still be going for intense treatment, and the last round of treatment he got was the worst. He had a lot of drugs at home as well, he had shots at home and steroids at home and he was going in for chemo as well. Hopefully, after this next month, he's going to be coming around on the up side of things. Hopefully. But regardless, he's got three more years of treatment and anything can happen at any given time. I was under the impression that maintenance meant going to the hospital once a month, but I just found out that means five days, once a month, spent in the hospital. It just doesn't ever get better. Me and another mom were saying the kicks just keep coming."
Other than her son dying, Suzy said she fears long-lasting side effects from the treatments for the cancer.
"Honestly, right now that's all I think about (is what if he dies)," Suzy said. "The disease is very curable, they say, in kids. The infections are what you have to worry about. So these past two weeks, not knowing what was wrong with him, he could've had an infection and died and you wouldn't even know it was coming. So, that's really scary. Honestly, all that poison, all the chemo, the steroids, the drugs he's on, no child should ever have that much stuff circulating through their body, ever. There are a lot of side effects with that, and I try not to think about that. One major one is he will probably have trouble having children. And that's scary. But on top of that he could have heart problems or other complications."
Suzy has come up with a motto for the T-shirts that will be sold at the fundraiser.
It is a play on what she wants to say nearly every day her son is sick, and with good reason.
They read, "Fudd it," with a picture of Elmer Fudd beside the words, "No hair, don't care."
"You want to use the f-word almost every day," Suzy said. "The T-shirts are a common feeling that we have. I feel like it's not cussing, and when you have a kid that's sick like that, that's what you want to say almost every day."
Friday night's festivities begin at 5 p.m., and go until the bar closes. Tickets for a barbecue plate are $7, and proceeds will be split 50/50 between the families.