Cody Belliveau

I am running to honor the memory of some wonderful people who have passed on as a result of blood cancers, but I am also running to honor the courage of one brave boy who is fighting to stick around a little longer! :) His name is Cody, and his aunt was also one of the first people to donate to my run. I asked for some more background on Cody so that my readers would know more about him, and so that I would know more about him. Reading it made me all the more aware of why I am running this. I want to know that kids like Cody can enjoy themselves on ice, and not have to suffer through the horrible treatments that he has had to endure.

"In February 2000 at the age of 7 he was diagnosed with Leukemia (ALL). He was treated at the Montreal Children's hospital for the next 2 1/2 years. He went for treatment on a weekly basis, and throughout the 1st year was required to spend 8-10 times in the hospital for treatment over a period of 3-4 days. Cody responded very well to the treatments, was in remission within the first month, never lost his hair with all the chemo treatments, was able to attend school during this time, and all seemed to go well. In February 2005, it would have been five years that Cody was in remission, and would be considered cured - unfortunately, in December 2004, it came back. It was a shock to all, and very hard to accept. Cody started intense treatments immediately, and was unable to go to school for a complete year, and spent most of his time in the hospital - the treatments this time were very intense, and this time he did lose his hair, he had just started to play hockey, which is what he always wanted to do, he was not able to, once again.

The Leukemia this time had come back in his central nervous system, and because of that it was necessary to do radiation on his head, which was done in July of 2005. After that he had treatments done every two weeks,and was able to attend school, and finally play hockey. Cody just finished his last treatment on Friday, June 15th. He will now be taken off all chemo treatments, and pills, and is required to have a check-up once a month - we pray that it will not come back again, we have a long road ahead of us, as we need to make it to January 2010 for the five year to have past before he is considered cured.....if it comes back again, he will have to undergo a bone marrow transplant, and the older he is the harder it is to survive the transplant. We know that information is coming through the pipeline everyday about better treatments for Leukemia, and we do hope that a cure will soon be found."

Well I'm with you Cody! I hope that the little bit of running I'm doing goes a long way to fighting blood cancers, and to making advances toward a cure.