1 of 4
Photos by Sarah Finnegan
Andrew Fambrough Lucas Dunigan
Andrew Fambrough, at left, a third-grader at South Shades Crest Elementary School who battled through a brain tumor discovered this spring, and Rocky Ridge Elementary School student Lucas Dunigan, at right, who continues to fight a leukemia diagnosis, will light the city of Hoover's official Christmas tree Dec. 1, 2016, at the Hoover Municipal Center.
2 of 4
Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
During his illness, Andrew Fambrough had to cease playing contact sports but will likely resume playing soccer this spring.
3 of 4
Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Rocky Ridge Elementary student Lucas Dunigan, who overcame a leukemia diagnosis, will light the city of Hoover’s official Christmas tree Dec. 1 at the Hoover Municipal Center.
4 of 4
Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Lucas Dunigan’s brother Riley was found to be a 99.9 percent match for a bone marrow transplant, which happened in October 2015. After the transplant’s failure, doctors discovered Lucas has a rare chromosome that, with treatment, could prevent leukemia cells from replicating.
It was just four days after Christmas two years ago when the diagnosis came for 6-year-old Lucas Dunigan.
The kindergartner at Rocky Ridge Elementary School had leukemia. The cancer moved quickly, and within 24 hours of diagnosis, it had spread to 57 percent of his body, said his mother, Amy Dunigan.
“The doctor said it was one of the most aggressive cancers he had seen in years,” Amy Dunigan said.
Lucas went from looking like a normal child to a boy who was jaundiced, bloated and bruised as if he had been beaten, she said.
Lucas endured aggressive chemotherapy, a failed bone marrow transplant and more than 100 nights at Children’s of Alabama hospital, his mother said. He’s 8 now and still has leukemia but has been in remission more than seven months.
Lucas is one of two Hoover children who were chosen to light the city of Hoover’s official Christmas tree Dec. 1 at the Hoover Municipal Center.
The other is Andrew Fambrough, a third-grader at South Shades Crest Elementary School who battled through a brain tumor discovered this spring.
The boys were chosen because they represent the best Hoover City Schools has to offer in terms of character, positive outlook and perseverance in the face of challenges, said Hoover City Schools spokesman Jason Gaston.
First signs of trouble
For Lucas, the first signs of trouble came about a week before Christmas 2014 when he wasn’t feeling well, and the glands in his neck were swollen. He was diagnosed with strep throat.
Over Christmas break, Lucas was throwing up and not eating. He looked peaked and “he just seemed off,” so his mother took him to an after-hours clinic on the weekend. The doctor found his white blood cell count was off the charts.
A follow-up office visit revealed an enlarged spleen and inflamed liver. Then, the doctor said they thought Lucas had cancer.
Lucas went through aggressive chemotherapy, but it wasn’t working. The doctor said a bone marrow transplant was the only option. His 9-year-old brother, Riley, was a 99.9 percent match and was proud to donate for his brother, his mother said.
The transplant was in October 2015, but it didn’t work either. The cancer returned. Lucas went back in the hospital and had more chemotherapy. Then, the doctors discovered through a genetic study that Lucas had a rare chromosome that was treatable with a drug, his parents said.
His body is still producing leukemia cells, but a pill Lucas takes once a day prevents the leukemia cells from replicating, said his father, Michael Dunigan.
Another bone marrow transplant could be an option, but for now, Lucas is continuing with daily drug treatment and chemotherapy every six weeks or so.
‘Mom, am I gonna die?’
Battling cancer has been hard on Lucas, his parents said. After the bone-marrow transplant failed, he struggled with depression and wasn’t eating well.
“He would sit in his room and just stare out the window for hours,” Michael Dunigan said. “It was just so sad because you didn’t know what was going on in his head.”
Lucas said the hardest part was the transplant.
“It hurt, and I was tired, and I didn’t like losing my hair,” he said. “And I couldn’t go anywhere.”
At one point in the hospital, Lucas was on 17 types of medication, and he was ill and moody all the time, Amy Dunigan said.
Lucas is a private boy and didn’t like all the interruptions by the specialists, physical therapists, teachers, volunteers, music and art instructors and dieticians, she said
“They don’t let you lay around,” Amy Dunigan said. “It’s constant all day. You have no privacy at all.”
Yet he also struggled with boredom, she said. And while he doesn’t comprehend the magnitude of everything he has been through, he’s an intelligent child and understood the seriousness of his situation, she said.
She recalls sitting with him in the hospital one day watching “Spongebob Squarepants.”
“He patted my arm and said, ‘Mom, am I gonna die?’” Amy Dunigan said.
Getting back to normal
These days, Lucas said he is feeling much better. His hair has grown back, and he returned to Rocky Ridge Elementary in March. He was way behind but has done well in catching up thanks to the help of teachers, his mom said.
In October, Lucas was named Student of the Month for his second-grade class.
“He has a wonderful attitude,” teacher Kelly Stokes said. “He is very conscientious about getting his work done. He’s always respectful — not just showing respect to his friends, but also showing respect to adults. He’s respectful of our learning time. He’s always on task. He’s always doing what he’s supposed to do.”
Lucas is positive, even when he’s not feeling well, Stokes said.
“Anything you ask him to do, he’s not going to grumble,” she said. “You ask him to work harder, you ask him to do something extra — he’ll do it for you. He’s really special.”
Amy Dunigan said the teachers and staff at Rocky Ridge Elementary have been fantastic. When it looked like his transplant was not going to be covered by insurance, they raised $3,000, which is now helping Amy Dunigan pay her rent.
Teachers visited Lucas and brought him gifts in the hospital. With his immune system weakened, they cleaned Amy Dunigan’s apartment thoroughly, had the carpets professionally cleaned and bought her a vacuum cleaner, new sheets and anti-microbial bed covers. They also provided Christmas gifts for Lucas and Riley.
Emotional journey
Lucas’ cancer also took an emotional toll on the family. One of the hardest parts for his mom was when the staff at Children’s of Alabama told her they needed to plan his funeral. She started, she said, but just couldn’t do it.
Michael Dunigan said the experience has been like a roller coaster, living with the potential for Lucas to die over and over again.
There was no escaping the reality, he said. Everywhere he went, people asked about Lucas.
“You just want to try to crawl into a hole, so nobody brings it up, so you don’t have to think about it,” he said. But “in order for me to cope, I had to come to grips very quickly that my son could die.”
He’s so thankful that his son is doing and feeling better, he said.
“He’s back to the Lucas we know,” Michael Dunigan said. “He’s such a resilient kid. He’s just a fighter. If there’s a brick wall, he doesn’t try to go around it or over it. He goes through it … He’s living the life of a normal kid now … He’s rockin’ and rolling.”
Amy Dunigan said she’s so proud of him.
“The tenacity in this child is just amazing,” she said.
She said she’s thrilled her son is much improved but added it’s always in the back of her mind that the journey is not over.
“We live in a scary world,” she said. “You just have to make the best of it and keep going.”
Andrew overcomes tumor
Andrew’s journey with cancer started similarly, with missed diagnoses, but has gone much more smoothly.
Andrew began having intermittent headaches in late February or early March and started throwing up. His doctor at first diagnosed him with strep throat, but Andrew started having dizziness and double vision and was becoming more lethargic, said parents Gene and Anna Fambrough.
The Fambroughs went to the pediatrician’s office eight times in about eight weeks, plus at least two specialists. A gastroenterologist recommended an MRI, which on May 26 revealed a 5-centimeter oval-shaped tumor on the back of his brain that was causing a buildup of spinal fluid, his parents said.
It was Memorial Day weekend, and the Fambroughs had planned to go to the beach. Instead, they were told to go immediately to Children’s of Alabama.
Andrew had surgery the next day, and a post-operation MRI indicated they were able to remove the entire tumor.
“They said it was one of the cleanest ones they had ever seen,” Gene Fambrough said.
Andrew stayed in the hospital only about a week and was able to come home. He has struggled some with balance and coordination and had some infection on his incision, but other than the scar on the back of his head, you can’t tell by looking at Andrew that he’s had any problem, his parents said.
Andrew did not have chemotherapy, but he did have radiation treatments five days a week for 30 days in July and August. He was able to start the third grade on time on Aug. 11 at South Shades Crest Elementary.
His second-grade class from last year and new third-grade class held a celebration for him at school after he finished his radiation treatments Aug. 23.
Hospital blues
Andrew said he didn’t like his hospital stay.
“It hurt. It was painful. I was hungry. I couldn’t eat for three days,” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of channels on the TV. You couldn’t play. You could barely get out of your bed. You couldn’t do anything that involved getting down on the floor,” he said.
“I was sad, and I was mad because I didn’t really want to go to the hospital for a long time and be in there. It was scary, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
Andrew is an active child who loves to play tackle football and soccer, so getting him to restrain himself from contact sports has been challenging, his parents said. He won’t be able to play tackle football, but he should be able to play soccer in the spring, they said.
He handled the brain tumor surgery with remarkable patience, Gene Fambrough said.
“He was brave. He wasn’t crying at all. Of course, we broke down.” The brain tumor surgery was “the longest seven hours of my life.”
Now, Andrew will go back to the doctor every three months for an MRI and see his oncologist. Then after two years, he’ll have checkups every six months, and after 10 years, he’ll see his oncologist once a year until he’s 21.
While it’s not something they wanted, Andrew’s cancer experience has been an amazing journey, Gene Fambrough said.
“To see how strong Andrew is, to see how much closer it has brought our family — unconditional love all the way around,” he said.
Community support
And the outpouring of support from family, friends, the teachers at South Shades Crest and all the doctors, nurses and staff at UAB has been incredible, the Fambroughs said.
“Every moment was people caring about his well-being,” Gene Fambrough said.
Andrew is a big fan of the University of Georgia (where his dad went to school), and Georgia football coach Kirby Smart sent him a signed football. Andrew’s favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers, also sent a care package. Now, they just have to keep Andrew from putting on the Packers helmet and playing rough football with it.
Gene Fambrough is the interim band director at UAB, and UAB football coach Bill Clark invited Andrew to a UAB football practice at Legion Field, introduced him to all the players and recognized the boy at UAB’s homecoming scrimmage game.
He also got to ride in a funky-looking three-wheeled vehicle at the Birmingham Ride for Kids at the Barber Motorsports Park, benefiting the Pediatric Brain Cancer Foundation.
Anna Fambrough said life is getting back to normal, but they still have occasional moments where emotions flare back up.
Andrew’s prognosis is positive. Because of the type tumor he had, where it was located and the success of the surgery, there is a good chance of no recurrence, Gene Fambrough said.
“That’s kind of what we’re holding onto,” he said.
