I post this so that you can see the story of Chance.





Chance Rodgers, 12, his mother Jennifer Honeycutt and 3-year-old sister Riley Honeycutt joke at the family’s Midland-area home Tuesday. Despite a six-month fight with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, Rodgers remains upbeat.
Boy’s life turns upside down with cancer diagnosis
By DD BIXBY
H&N Staff Writer
Friday, April 4, 2008 11:53 PM PDT

The bottom of Chance Rodgers’ cast is reserved for the 3-year-old ball of energy who twirls and dances around the living room. And little Riley Honeycutt proudly shows off her sketches and scribbles on her brother’s sole to anyone who will listen.

Ask him what he did to his leg and the 12-year-old will tell you without ado — the hip-to-toe cast that’s covered in marker is part of his treatment for bone cancer.

The pink and black swirled cast — which his two sisters Marilyn Honeycutt, 10, and Shelby Rodgers, 11, say looks like a candy cane — is the third since his cancer-infected femur was removed and replaced with a donor bone Jan. 30.

He chose the color pink at Riley’s request. He’d already gotten a construction-cone orange cast for himself, anyway.

Fall 2007

Fewer than six months ago, Chance’s body became a battleground.

Chance had noticed a bump on his leg and had pain in his knee. Several months passed and the pain continued. Doctors took an X-ray in late October. Three days later, Chance was referred to Oregon Health Sciences University, and his family was told there was a good chance he had bone

cancer.

A diagnosis was confirmed Nov. 14, and a week later treatment started, turning life upside down in the Honeycutt and Rodgers’ households.

and mother and stepfather all live in the Klamath Falls area.

“Going through it — it’s a day-to-day thing. And at first you’re just an emotional wreck,” Chance’s dad Jim Rodgers says.

About two to three weeks into treatment, Chance found hair in his hat, and he thought it belonged to the family dog.

It belonged to him, and though his hair has grown in twice since then, a heavy dose of chemicals keeps him bald.

Winter

Treatment split Chance and his family as he moved between Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland and his home in Midland. Mom Jennifer Honeycutt accompanies Chance alone most of the time.

This separation, Honeycutt says, is difficult.

Due to treatment schedules that keep Chance in Portland for weeks at a time, he has a tutor to keep up with schoolwork and there’s a classroom at Doernbecher’s.

When he’s home, Chance is always allowed to visit Alyce Sandusky’s sixth-grade class at Henley Elementary School.

Marilyn and Shelby, both fifth graders at Henley, keep their fingers crossed that Chance doesn’t have to repeat the sixth grade, so all three won’t be in the same grade next school year.

It just wouldn’t be a good idea, they say, laughing.

The girls, who are good friends, sit just desks apart at school and are constantly grilled for information on their older brother.

With Chance’s hospital visits, the girls have taken on more responsibilities.

Enthusiasm and dedication to their brother radiate from Shelby and Marilyn. Even so, they still gripe about one of the chores they inherited — the chickens.

Cleaning and feeding of the backyard chicken flock is clearly something they could do without.

Both Jennifer Honeycutt and Chance’s stepmom, Christi Rodgers, say they’re proud of the girls and how they’re handling the stressful time.

“We’ve all adapted really well — being apart and keeping everything moving,” Jennifer Honeycutt says.

Tough times and hope

January was tough, Jennifer Honeycutt says, explaining the family brought in the New Year in the emergency room. After Chance’s condition worsened, he had to be flown to Portland and quarantined for a bacterial infection.

By the end of January, the family learned Chance’s femur surgery had removed the cancer. The relief was tempered by news that his previous chemotherapy schedule did not produce the hoped-for cancer-cell kill rate, and Chance would have to do a more aggressive chemotherapy schedule with more potent drugs.

An avid reader, Chance loves any book dealing with World War II which gives him a unique outlook on his cancer.

“My cancer is like the Nazis,” he says. “And the chemo is the Allied Forces. And surgery was D-Day.”

Spring

Several weeks after Chance was diagnosed with bone cancer, Jennifer Honeycutt started an online blog to journal the family’s journey. The responses, she says, have been amazing, and have come from people from as far away as Ireland and Australia.

In early March, she wrote:

“Spring is just beginning here in Klamath.

“But spring in Klamath doesn’t mean that cold and snowy weather is over! It reminds me of what Chance is going through — we have some really good days where we think ‘yes, we can get through this!’

“On those days it feels like spring — the hope and promise of our winter being over soon. And then we have a really bad day and it seems like it is hopeless. On those days, I feel like winter is reminding us that we are not through yet ... but then the sun shines again, bringing with it the hope that I crave!”

Friends, neighbors and even strangers have embraced the Rodgers and Honeycutts and buoyed their spirits, for which they are grateful, Honeycutt says. But God remains the constant for the family.

“It’s really the only force to look to, really,” stepfather David Honeycutt says.

The future

Chance’s therapy is tentatively scheduled to last through fall of this year, and Jennifer Honeycutt and Chance will be leaving for Portland again in about a week.

Tuesday, the family was optimistic. Chance’s cancer is known to go into full remission, and for now they try to keep his life as normal as possible.

As the snow melts, Honeycutt wrote in her blog about getting out with the girls and biking.

A trampoline frame sits in the Honeycutts' front yard, waiting for better weather, too.

Bicycling and jumping on the trampoline — these are some of the things Chance misses most.

How to help

Several local events are scheduled this month to help the Chance Rodger family with travel and medical expenses.

• From today to April 26, Great Clips will donate $2 of any full price haircut to Chance Rodgers’ family. Fliers can be found at churches and local businesses and must be brought with the customer. For more information, contact Christi Rodgers at 892-0965.

• At 2 p.m., Saturday, April 26, a benefit raffle will be at Klamath County Fairgrounds. A 2007 Polaris four-wheeler, shotgun or a rifle and a two half cut-and-wrapped sides of beef will be raffled among other items.

Ongoing:

• Henley Elementary School is participating in the Sparrow Club, for which students commit to 260 hours of community service, raising $10 an hour to benefit the Chance Rodgers family.

• An account has been set up at Sterling Savings Bank named the Chance T. Rodgers Donation Account. Donations can be made at any of the four Klamath Falls locations or at the Merrill branch.

Trucker rally today

Anyone who knows Chance Rodgers knows the 12-year-old is a big-truck fanatic and wants to be a truck driver when he grows up.

Since he was 2, Chance traveled in big rigs with his grandfather, Jim Rodgers.

It’s a summer tradition to ride long haul with Papa Rodgers, and even though he’s fighting cancer now, Chance hopes he can go this summer, too.

Knowing his passion for trucking, the truckers of Wal-Mart Transportation adopted Chance and will host a Trucker Rally to honor him at 3 p.m. today in the Wal-Mart parking lot, 3600 Washburn Way.

The event will include hot dogs, drinks, cake and activities. Wal-Mart officials say they expect at least 400 community members.