One local family celebrated a milestone, Friday morning, both for Georgia Cancer Center researchers and a young boy striving against cancer.
Two-year-old Ace Battle received the last of a 12 radiation treatments, that morning, the culmination of a collaborative project between the Georgia Cancer Center’s Radiation Therapy team and the Children’s Hospital of Georgia’s (CHOG) Pediatric Anesthesia team.
“For radiation treatment, patients have to remain still throughout the whole treatment, and they also have to replicate the same position every day,” explained Amber Moore, nurse manager with the Cancer Center’s Radiation Oncology department. “So, as you can imagine, for pediatric patients such as Ace being two years old, that would be very difficult to do. So with our pediatric anesthesia team, we were able to safely and effectively administer radiation treatment.”
The Pediatric Anesthesia project was developed about two years ago to expand the radiation treatment clinic and allow CHOG patients to receive the treatment locally. The initiative launched on Aug. 11 of this year.
With this 12th round of therapy completed, Ace is the initiative’s first successfully treated patient. Staff joined the Battle family gathering in the Radiation Therapy Center to cheer Ace on as he rang a bell signifying his breakthrough, and place a fingerpaint spot on a tree mural on the wall.
“The goal has been… to be able to keep our patients and families here locally, so they don’t have to go to Atlanta, and so we feel very successful in that area,” said Moore. “But we’re just so excited. He was our first peds patient, he will always be with us. We will always think back on him, and thankfully, with the fingerprint, we know that that is Ace Battle, and that will remain there.”
Angie Battle, Ace’s mother, is not only glad that this round of the treatment is complete, but also that her son was able to make it so far in the treatment.
“At first I didn’t see it, but now I can see it,” she said.
Battle has lost family to cancer before, she says, so the journey has been even more personal. While Ace still has more treatment to undergo, the completion of this round of radiation therapy the Battles are ready to return to a sense of normalcy.
Ace himself, however, has been a “champ” throughout the therapy.
“We may have had maybe one experience when he woke up groggy and just wasn’t feeling well, but all the other times, he’s been spunky, he’s been silly,” Battle said, humorously referring to her son’s rambunctious alter ego she affectionately calls “Bill.”
“He’s very hilarious. He’s had his normal energy, which is good, and we’re very thankful for that.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
