Gavin Marches On
Two summers ago, Wellsville student Gavin Campbell was playing with his friends in gym class during a regular day of school when his friends noticed a mark on his arm that appeared to be a blood blister. After he couldn’t get the blister to go away, his family decided to get it checked out at Akron Children’s Hospital. The doctors decided to cut the blister off and send it to the Mayo Clinic for further research.
After a couple of weeks, the Campbell family’s dermatologist called them back to give them devastating news.
At just 14 years old, Gavin had developed a rare type of cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. After his parents were told about the illness, they had to break the news to their son. Before they could tell him, Gavin overheard his parents telling his two older sisters. His mother Bonnie Campbell explained that he lost all control.
“At Gavin’s age you think that cancer is death,” his mom Bonnie said. What he didn’t know at that time was that his diagnosis wasn’t going to be death.”
Ewing Sarcoma is a rare cancer that usually effects young white males between the ages of 10–20. St. Jude Children’s Hospital claimed that approximately 200 Americans are diagnosed with the illness each year. Even though 70% of cases can be cured, teens ages 15–19 have only a 56% survival rate(https://www.stjude.org/disease/ewing-sarcoma.html).
Gavin and his family marched on to many chemotherapy appointments that made Gavin feel miserable. One of the side effects of the chemotherapy was that Gavin would lose his luscious Justin Bieber hair. Gavin decided to make the best of the situation and dye his hair red.
The Campbell family used social media to make the best of the situation once again. They started the Team Gavin Facebook page to build awareness regarding Gavin’s journey. Gavin’s father Mike would address the people in local communities through Facebook Watch to let them know how Gavin’s treatments were progressing.
Through the Facebook page the world learned what Gavin wants to be when he grows up. The courageous teenager has wanted to be a cop for as long as he can remember. Gavin explained that being a cop would be fun because he would get to do a different job every day.
Gavin and his family decided to make a Facebook post asking for some police memorabilia so that Gavin could develop a collection. The post caught the eye of East Liverpool public service/safety director Brian Allen. Allen shared the Team Gavin post on the East Liverpool Police Department Facebook page and what proceeded was a massive amount of donations from police departments around the world.
Allen described this process as well as Gavin’s relationship with the local police departments in his community.
Gavin was sworn in as an honorary Wellsville police officer in October 2017. The bond that the young boy has with his local law enforcement is the reason why he still wants to serve his community as an officer.
“The officers told me that being a cop means that you are part of a family,” Gavin explained. “So I want to be a cop too.”
Gavin still had to endure rigorous treatments. The young boy and his family would have to be at Akron Children’s Hospital for his 2-day chemotherapy treatment. They would then have to stay there for 5 days straight of radiation. Therefore, at one period of his rotation Gavin had to be at the hospital every day for six weeks.
Gavin’s mother saw incredible courage from her son during these treatments. One of the chemotherapy treatments that he received made him have excruciating pain in his legs and there was no pain medication to give him.
Gavin would not let his pain take him down. He would often try to get up out of his chair and walk even though he was exhausted. His mother Bonnie described what he went through.
“Gavin would collapse because of the pain, but he would say pick me back up and help me get through this. He knew that God was going to help him get through this. He told me he knew that one day he was going to help someone else get through this.”
On November 28, 2017, after a year long battle with Ewing Sarcoma, Gavin Campbell was deemed cancer free.
“It’s great to see Gavin as a teenager again,” Bonnie said. “I am grateful that we get to celebrate his life and that he is still here.”
This year, Gavin was able to return to the WHS Marching Band. He played in the band alongside Wellsville High School band director James Harris when he was in middle school. Gavin returned to the marching band at the beginning of the school year.
Gavin and his family are incredibly thankful for all the help they received during the entire journey. Gavin will attend his final three-month scan at Akron Children’s Hospital on December 11. If the scan comes back clear, Gavin will only need checkups once a year. This is a very positive sign because for now Gavin does not have to endure the rigorous 6-week schedule that he had during his treatment.
“All the people who helped us along the way are amazing,” Bonnie explained. “We would have never gotten through this without all of them.”
