Wednesday's Warriors: Hamilton Grant
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NORTH TEXAS (CBS11) - When I met Hamilton Grant, my very first thought was, this could be my son.
They are the exact same age.
Join Doug's team, #kona4lls, with a donation to my fundraising page.
By the grace of God and luck, our family has not gone through what Hamilton and his family have. But I am the one who is blessed, for having met this young man, and now, having the ability to call him my friend, and one of my honored heroes as I make my way toward the Ironman World Championship in October.
Ham's story goes back to 2010.
That's when he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Chemotherapy was his best chance at taking on this cancer, but when that therapy began, there was an issue. And it was a big one.
The ordinary dose of chemo that Ham received, that most always gave a positive response on shrinking the presence of the cancer, was having no effect. They had to hit him with even harder doses to get his blood counts to move in the right direction.
The other issue is, the positive changes were agonizingly slow. So slow in fact, that Ham spent three-and-a-half years on essentially continuous chemo.
That is extraordinarily long, especially in a child, who is still growing. That long chemo phase has left Ham with many challenges ranging from speech, to hearing, sometimes even walking. But his spirit, and attitude when you are a room with him, is infectious.
He does not care about where he's been. Only where he's going. He's incredibly positive, and a light.
We hit it off right away.
But then, came the connection that will keep us bonded for a long long time. Little Ham has a dream, of getting his pilot's license when he's old enough. I happen to be a pilot. We decided, we need to fly!
So there we were, on a warm day in April in a gleaming red and white American Champion Citabria!
Ham told me everything about our plane as we taxied out for takeoff. I had him with me on the controls, and let me tell you, the boy is smooth!
Ham flew us all around North Texas, climbing, descending, turning, laughing and smiling the whole way.
After an hour in the air, I realized something. We never once, talked about cancer. All we talked about, was how awesome it was to be up there. The beauty, how far you can see, the clouds, how little people look on the ground way down there. No talk of hospitals, therapy, chemo, nothing. Just the joy of flying. And isn't that the way it should be?
Ham has benefited greatly from the incredible advances in the fight against blood cancers, funded largely by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
My hope, is that my commitment, to raising a North Texas record amount during my journey to the Ironman Championships in Kona this October, will also be among the dollars that help come up with that therapy, or even cure, for one or more strains of blood cancer.
It's happening at such a fast pace now, cancer patients are living longer, and in many cases, being cured like never before.
Someday soon, I truly believe, we'll have a world where cancer is no longer the death sentence it so often is today.
I'm so proud to be playing just one small part in the process that will save lives. Lives like my buddy Hamilton's. I would be honored, to have your support.
Join Doug's team, #kona4lls, with a donation to my fundraising page.
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