Christopher A. Chesebro
Christopher was born on August 25, 1990 in Orange, California. He was a big guy from the beginning, 10 pounds 9 ounces, and has continued breaking the height “norms” ever since. Christopher moved to Riverside in October of 1992, he began going to school in the Alvord school district in 1995. Due to anxiety he struggled in school, but throughout his years he had some very supportive and wonderful teachers. Christopher would get D’s and C’s on his report cards sometimes, with comments from teachers who loved having him in class. He was funny, polite and helpful, even while struggling. Christopher started High School at Norte Vista in August of 2005. During his freshman year he joined the FFA through Mr. Hively’s agriculture program.
On February 22, 2006, Christopher got up somewhat nervous about going with his dad and little brother out to the Indio fair to show his pig for the first time. Following his turn in the ring with his pig, Christopher started to feel sick, ultimately collapsing and needing to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Due to Christopher swinging his arms (apparently due to pressure within his skull) it took many men to get him strapped onto the gurney. The fire squad took him to the local hospital, John F. Kennedy, which didn’t have a neurology department. Luckily the emergency doctor on call recognized the neuro symptoms and ordered a CT scan and wanted him taken quickly to Loma Linda where he would get the best care. Unfortunately this would take 4 hours due to Christopher’s instability, all this time the pressure was building to a degree where he could have died at any moment.
A huge helicopter carrying Christopher and multiple health professionals landed at Loma Linda while family and friends waited frantic, not knowing what was happening. Christopher was put in the care of Dr. Renata Osterdock, Chief Pediatric Neurosurgeon when he arrived at Loma Linda. She did a life saving initial procedure that evening, drilling into his skull relieving the spinal fluid that was causing severe hydrocephalus. Christopher’s parents and family were told that night that he had a small 1% chance of surviving. The doctor told his parents in no uncertain terms “these children die”. When looking at the initial CT scan it appeared Christopher had no brain matter left, the hydrocephalus was so bad and had almost completely filled the center sections of Chris’ brain. His brain had been forced against the inside of his skull; his scan appeared almost completely black, filled with spinal fluid. The cause of this, which doctors quickly determined, was a lemon sized cancerous pineal tumor at the base of Christopher’s brain. This tumor had herniated, blocking the spinal fluid from normally flowing freely through his brain and back into his spine. Doctors were astonished that this did not kill Christopher before they had the drain in place, most patients die due to the tumor rupturing, pushing brain matter and the brain stem into the spinal column.
Christopher’s parents were told, during the 11 days he was unconscious, that if he did wake up he would probably not be able to see, hear, walk, or talk. They were told that if he was lucky enough to be able to see, he may not know who they were, or remember anything about his life. On day 11, Christopher opened his eyes, and looked at his mom. His mom asked him who she was and he shrugged and got a weird look on his face and said…”Mom!” His family knew it would be a long journey, but they knew Christopher was back.
Doctors have been amazed by Christopher’s recovery, due to the damage of his eyes his Ophthalmologist doesn’t know how he can walk without assistance. Due to balance issues, he does use a wheelchair and walker during different situations, but around the house Christopher can walk without assistance, amazing his doctor.
Christopher was treated with radiation and chemotherapy in 2006 while his family stayed close by at the Ronald McDonald house in Los Angeles. He had acute inpatient physical, speech, and occupational therapy so he could feed himself again, swallow correctly and relearn all the daily things and regain his physical strength.
Christopher left Norte Vista High School that fateful morning in 2006 and has since done home and hospital classes and returned to the Norte Vista RCOE on campus special education program. That in and of itself should show the character of this young man, he left Norte Vista High School to go on a field trip as a strapping, tall healthy “normal” student and returned 2 years later on the “special” bus willingly, in a wheelchair and with some brain damage, to continue his education. He has most recently been struggling with home and hospital classes again, now deciding to pursue an independent degree.
Christopher has gone to his mothers classroom to visit her students over the past few years, since he stands about 6’ 7” tall and wears a size 14 shoe her students always love seeing him. The students knew the quick version of how doctors considered his recovery miraculous so they were thrilled to get to compare their little (Kinder-3rd grade) hands to his when giving him “high 5” and to see him reach up and touch the roof without jumping. Christopher enjoys visiting the students as much as they love seeing him and being able to “touch a miracle”.
Christopher has had complications with his brain surgeries; he has had to have shunt surgery to keep pressure down in his head, plastic surgeries to correct wounds that wouldn’t heal due to radiation damage. He has had a pic line which is a direct line to his heart for his parents to administer antibiotics due to infections, he has had wounds packed and hundreds of blood tests and maintenance MRI’s.
Christopher found out in July 2010 that his cancer had returned, he was again facing dangerous brain surgery close to his brain stem and subsequent chemotherapy. Christopher could not get any more radiation on his tumor because he had received the full dose in 2006. In August of 2010 he again underwent brain surgery, followed by a muscle flap to repair previous wound damage and chemotherapy.
Most recently, Chris’ Neuro Oncologist has decided to change the chemotherapy, which doesn’t seem to be aggressive enough, to a new medication. He will start this IV infused medication Monday, March 14, 2011.
Christopher enjoyed riding his mini-bike, and was looking forward to driving his own car one day. He had all the normal aspirations in life; unfortunately his life was interrupted with cancer and the subsequent treatments and devastation to his body. Christopher has found other ways to fulfill his driving, he has his own golf cart to drive in his backyard, and the wonderful people at Pole Position accommodate him at any time. With Christopher’s sense of humor and optimism his family knows he will do well on this new treatment. He is already a miracle!
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