“Serendipitous” can be described as unexpected, or in this case, when everything just comes together as if guided by an invisible hand. The word serendipitous perfectly captures the nearly 20 year journey my nephew, Conor, started as a toddler. It is also how the Regional Event Planner for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital described working with the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) while planning the inaugural St. Jude Disc Golf Charity Invitational.

Last weekend I told Conor that I was going to play disc golf and raise donations for St. Jude. Conor heard about this and said he “just wants to help the St. Jude kids.” He decided to donate his own saved pennies.

Conor’s spirit is center chains on target.

My sister’s son, Conor, was a blessing the moment he was born. At 18 months old, his parents noticed he stopped gaining weight. Conor had begun sleeping much of the day and was actually losing weight. At 18 months old he weighed only 17 pounds.

One day Conor went to sleep and his father could not wake him up. They ran a multitude of tests at the hospital. After the doctor witnessed Conor fall while reaching for a toy, he suggested they scan for a brain tumor. This was unthinkable, but the doctor assured his parents that it was only a precaution that they should rule out.

Waiting outside the examination room, his parents, Mannette and Earl, watched as the hospital Chaplain came toward them. He said in a comforting voice that the doctor would be over to speak with them. The doctor’s advice was to “take your child home and enjoy the time you have left.” The scan had revealed that Conor had a massive tumor the size of a peach in the center of his brain. The worse news came next. The tumor’s location, just above Conor’s brain stem and wrapped around the hypothalamus, made it inoperable. There was simply no hope for Conor.

The advice was not acceptable to Conor’s parents; they were determined to fight for their child’s life. They found a doctor who was able to carefully de-bulk 45% of Conor’s tumor during a six-and-a-half hour surgery. This procedure gave Conor more time. He then underwent 18 months of chemotherapy on a weekly basis.The tumor’s growth remained at bay until he turned 6, then Conor relapsed and it began to grow again. Unfortunately, only one invasive option was left and it would have resulted in Conor not being himself after the surgery.

Conor’s father found a new conformal radiation clinical study online and sent an email to St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He was elated to get a reply back four hours later that simply said, “send the pathology reports.” A doctor at St. Jude looked over the scans and said, “I think I can help him, get on a plane.” Mannette recalls a representative from St. Jude insisting they “not worry about anything, just get here; we will take care of everything. You focus on your son getting better.”

Four days after sending a desperate email, Conor’s family landed in Memphis with hope restored.

A few other hospitals had cutting edge conformal radiation technology. But St. Jude had developed an experimental treatment utilizing new imaging equipment that detailed the exact location of the tumor. They proposed guiding beams of 5% radiation through the healthy brain cells from all directions, minimizing damage. All the beams would converge only at the tumor site for 100% cancer killing impact. Conor underwent radiation treatment five days a week for six weeks.

Conor only had a 5% survival rate, but Conor is a survivor. I am happy to report he turned 20 this year.

How do you say thank you to people who give you more time with your child?

If you can't compete this year, please find sponsors for this charity event, or donate now in support of survivors like Conor. God bless St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital for the life-saving work they do and HELLO WORLD, WE ARE THE DISC GOLF COMMUNITY!

Judd Dague #54505
Team Conor