Sep 5, 2008 6:18 pm US/Central
Stand Up To Cancer: A Local Toddler's Story
Drew Perschon's Family Found Their Priorities Changed Dramatically With Diagnosis
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (CBS) ―
Celebrities are starting to arrive at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood for Friday night's national Stand Up To Cancer Show.
One of the children being featured on the program is from the area, a northwest Indiana boy with an inspirational story.
CBS 2's Susan Carlson reports 2-1/2-year-old Drew Perschon knows what he likes, and what he doesn't. It's hard to believe the active little toddler had a radiation treatment earlier Friday.
"It is absolutely completely undescribable when you find out your child has cancer," said Drew's mother, Kate Perschon, "because you think, and this sounds cliché, but you really think it happens to other people."
Drew had no symptoms prior to last October when he developed a black eye that wouldn't go away. It was actually a secondary tumor.
"Turns out, the tumor in his eye was two centimeters, about a golf ball size," Kate Perschon said. "The tumor in his abdomen was nine centimeters. It was the size of a softball."
Drew was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system that primarily effects young children.
The diagnosis changed everything.
"We lived in Dallas so we bought a condo here in Schererville and I gave up my job and came here," said Drew's grandmother Elizabeth Perschon.
"Not only is this little one who has stolen your heart hurting and sick, but your own child is devastated," said his grandmother Donna Criner.
After surgery, chemo and three stem cell transplants, Drew is cancer-free. The typical recurrence rate of neuroblastoma is 50 percent, but with continued radiation, doctors say the little toddler is beating the odds.
"Everything is important in a very different way," Kate Perschon said. "There are very few things that I can honestly say we end up spending our time worrying about now... our health, our safety and our happiness."
Neighbors are coming together for a charity softball tournament Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock at Rohrman Park in Schererville. All the proceeds will benefit cancer research.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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