Editor’s Note: This is the first story in a series from 2021 about childhood cancer awareness month. Today’s story highlights two pediatric cancer survivors. A story on Sept. 8 focuses on events. A story on Sept. 12 focuses on the Press On Fund and its efforts to raise money for childhood cancer research. A final story will highlight the Sept. 18 Go Gold For September: Fun Walk and Butterfly Release.
Of all the places for Brennan Simkins to go to college, it was only fitting for the 19 year old to go to the University of Memphis in Tennessee.
“’Of course, it’s Memphis, mom’” was what Brennan Simkins said, according to his mother, Tara Simkins, a life coach in North Augusta.
Memphis was a second home to the Simkins’ family from the fall of 2009 to 2012 as Brennan Simkins went through treatments at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis for leukemia. This year marks his 10th year in remission.
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September is children’s cancer awareness month.
According to statistics at St. Jude’s website, 400,000 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancer each year, and it’s the leading cause of death in children past infancy. Despite that, 80 percent of children go on to be long-term survivors. The most common childhood cancer is leukemia.
Amari Wilson was only 4 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma six years ago.
“His neck was swollen, and his stomach was swollen,” said his mother, Katina Horne, who was in warrant officer training on temporary duty at Fort Gordon when she got a phone call about his diagnosis. At the time, she was stationed in Germany and had only finished one of three years there.
Her children were staying with family in Wrightsville, Ga., but doctors there brushed off her concerns, telling her he just “had gas.” But she knew something was wrong. The symptoms had come on suddenly. She got a second opinion at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia.
Horne was ready to quit so she could be with her son, but her commander worked to get her orders changed so she could stay at Fort Gordon while he received his treatment.
Wilson went through two years of chemo and has been cancer free for four years, she said.
Brennan Simkins was diagnosed with the disease the day before his seventh birthday in January 2009. Over the next two years, he would go through four bone marrow transplants and experimental protocols. Each bone marrow transplant brought hope that was soon dashed as he relapsed.
His parents chronicled the family’s journey through the CarePages website and eventually his father Turner Simkins penned a book about it.
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Before the last bone marrow transplant, Tara Simkins said the family had to take a serious look at what life might be like — either with Brennan or without him. And the idea that he’d one day go to college in the town that embraced him, and his family was something they didn’t know might happen.
“It’s surreal last week taking him there,” said Tara Simkins on Aug. 31 about the experience of taking her son to college the week before. “It’s familiar, and there’s a feeling of hope that it gave us.”
What is great about the University of Memphis, she said, is that it has a program for students with invisible disabilities.
Brennan Simkins has never attended a full day of school since the first grade because of his medical treatments, and the toxicity of the medications given to him. He has problems with his short-term memory, and he sleeps 10-12 hours a day. He also developed cataracts.
He attended Aquinas, but he received a GED in December. He needed tutors to help him prepare for that and the ACT to apply to college, she said.
She said that Memphis’s program provides resources for students like Brennan Simkins to help them succeed.
And as far Wilson, he’s playing football in Grovetown and his twin sister, Amani, is a cheerleader.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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