COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. — As his sophomore year at Comstock Park High School arrived, it got harder and harder for 15-year-old Konnor VanDyke to go to class. He was throwing up and getting headaches. His parents, Shaune and Angie, worked with urgent care physicians to figure out what was going on.
"We thought it was tension headaches so we were just going to go to therapy to get through that, and give him less video game time, and just watch him," said Angie, who also suspected that anxiety about the school year might be the cause.
But by October, things had only gotten worse.
"We were having a free day at school and I was in the gym playing ultimate frisbee. I started feeling just down, like a little dizzy or something, like how you get lightheaded. So I sat down for a while, and then moved across the gym to sit down on the stairs," Konnor said.
"Then I really realized I was starting to have an issue when I tried to get up from the stairs, and I kept falling to the side. Eventually I got up, and I was realizing that my steps were getting way harder to take, and I wasn't really feeling stable and on the ground."
Konnor's friends and teachers noticed him struggling too. They got him to the office and an ambulance came to take him to the hospital. On the way there, Konnor fell asleep. When he woke up, he learned he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer called medulloblastoma.
"They did an emergency MRI and came back and said he has a golf ball-sized brain tumor on his brainstem. And that's when we knew it was serious," Shaune said.
Doctors performed multiple surgeries on Konnor, first to drain the fluid that had caused swelling, and then to remove the tumor itself. But the cancer had spread to Konnor's spine, so he started going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments as well.
"He's so strong. I mean, I think it was a good month until he even shed his first tear. I mean, through all the surgeries and everything," Shaune said.
"He is just amazing. He is the strongest person I've ever met. He's an inspiration. He really is. Physically, can he lift 200 pounds? No. But it's a different strong. It's a mental strong. I think that's a huge part of it. He has just been a soldier through this whole thing."
Konnor has approached his treatment with a business-like attitude.
"You just gotta keep going. I mean, you can't really dwell on the past. It happened. It's unfortunate. Only like one in 300 something get the type of cancer I got, but it happened. I got unlucky. I've just gotta get through it. Just gotta deal with it," he said.
PHOTOS | Konnor VanDyke, from his diagnosis to events in his honor
But Konnor isn't fighting alone. Not only does his family have his back, but his community does, too.
This month, Comstock Park High School hosted its annual Cancer Classic basketball game and donated the proceeds to the VanDyke family.
Word of Konnor's fight has spread beyond Comstock Park, too.
The Sparta High School hockey team is a co-op that includes players from Comstock Park, and they donated part of the proceeds from their annual "Pink in the Rink" tournament to the VanDykes.
"What a huge thing that was — a silent auction, raffles. It was just above and beyond what we ever expected," Shaune said.
"They had Konnor come into the locker room so the boys knew what they were fighting for and playing for. That was awesome. We got to meet the team. They gave him a jersey with 'Konnor Strong' on the back of it."
Konnor even got to drop the puck at the start of the game. That puck is now a treasured keepsake at the VanDyke home.
"We just hope that someday we can repay what has been given to us and be the support that somebody else needs," Angie said.
Konnor started another round of chemo on Wednesday. He'll be going through that for another six months. It's been rough on his body, but he's been keeping a positive attitude.
He got an autographed football from Detroit Lions star Aidan Hutchinson, and the VanDyke's say the staff at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital has been taking good care of Konnor.
"It's just little things that people don't think of when they donate to a hospital where that money will go. It's touched our family in so many different ways," Angie said.
If you would like to help out the VanDyke family directly, they have a GoFundMe page set up. Helen DeVos Children's Hospital also has a few ways you can help out all of their patients. You can give a monetary donation through their foundation, or pick something off their wish list to buy for a patient.
The VanDykes said prayers are also appreciated, and they want people to know how quickly life can change.
"Hug and kiss your kids. Your family is worth all that. The things that you think matter in life, they don't matter. All the material stuff is not important," Shaune said.
"Unfortunately, sometimes it takes tragedy to strike for you to realize that you have everything you need in an arm's reach," he added.
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