News
Connor's desire for a healthier world
Scott Wagar
03/04/2014
This past week Bottineau’s third grade class kicked-off its annual fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Math-a-Thon to raise money to find a cure for cancer and other illnesses that affect children, along with assisting St. Jude’s patients financially.
For one third grade student, Connor Radtke, the opportunity to participate in the Math-a-Thon has special meaning to him because nine months ago he was diagnosed with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis, or LCH, a rare disease in children where too many Langerhans cells (a type of white blood cell) are produced and form tumors in the body.
LCH is so rare that only approximately one in 250,000 children are diagnosed with the disease. The illness is considered an immune system disorder and is treated with chemotherapy and surgeries.
On Tuesday afternoon, as Connor sat in his classroom learning about the Math-a-Thon, he was his everyday self, full of smiles and quick to raise his hand to ask questions on how to go about raising money for the kids of St. Jude Hospital.
In reality, if one looks at Connor, you might never know he has been struggling with LCH due to his happy go lucky personality, but for Connor life has been anything but easy. In the past year he had biopsies, a number of surgeries, chemotherapy and lots of uncomfortable tests for his LCH.
“As a mom, the diagnosis has been a roller coaster of emotions,” said Angie Hoff, Connor’s mom who is a third grade teacher in the Bottineau School District and has directed the St. Jude Math-a-Thon for the school for the past six years. “In every stage of treatment, we were hopeful that it would eliminate the disease. It has taken longer than all of us had hoped.”
In June of last year, Connor’s leg started hurting him while he was outside playing. Shortly after the pain started, he started to limp as he walked. Hoff immediately took Connor to St. Andrew’s Health Center and from there it became a whirlwind journey for the family.
“Connor’s initial appointment was with Dr. Kulkarni at St. Andrew’s. He felt there was something wrong in the pelvis area and referred him to Keith Pritchard to try physical therapy. After one session of PT, Keith conferred with Dr. Kulkarni and they decided to refer Connor to a pediatric hip/pelvis specialist at Altru in Grand Forks. Everything happened very quickly after this as their machines were able to detect a mass in his pelvis area and they referred Connor to Mayo Clinic in Rochester,” Hoff said.
“He had two tumors surgically removed at Mayo Clinic from the right pelvis area, which were causing Connor to limp because the tumors were growing. Because there was another spot on the left pelvis area, he was then referred to a Pediatric Oncologist at Sanford Hospital in Bismarck. He received 12 weeks of chemotherapy treatments followed by a second surgery back at Mayo to remove a third tumor,” Hoff continued.
Hoff stated that through Connor’s diagnoses, surgeries and his chemotherapy treatments (which has caused Connor to feel tired and lose some hair), his journey with LCH has gone well for him.
“He has been his normal, happy self throughout the whole process,” she said and added that medical facilities which have cared for Connor have all been top notch.
“From St. Andrew’s to Altru to Mayo Clinic to Sanford, Connor has received outstanding care from a lot of wonderful people.”
The day after Hoff kicked-off the St. Jude Hospital’s Math-a-Thon for Bottineau’s third graders last Tuesday, she and Connor traveled back to Bismarck on Wednesday to have a petscan to see if Connor’s treatments had placed him in remission with his LCH.
The test showed that Connor is recovering nicely from his second surgery and that he will not have to have any more chemotherapy treatments.
Connor’s petscans will continue and his physicians will keep a close eye on Connor for a period of time because LCH is a serious disease, but for those who are diagnosed with the illness they normally out grow it by the age of 12.
For Hoff, the past nine months have been difficult for her, but she is thankful for those around her during this time and holds a strong faith in God.
“The strength and endurance you thought you were never capable of is supplied through God, family, friends and community,” Hoff said. “When it is your child(ren) you will do anything possible to make it better.”