Benson Strong

08/18/2022

It’s been soooo long since I’ve updated!

Benson had an incredible summer! He loved attending Aurora Day Camp for his 4th year in a row, did tons of swimming, a trip to Michigan, week with Grandparents in Charlotte … and of course, tons of video games. He started 2nd grade a few weeks ago and is adjusting back to early mornings and school.

He also had his MRI at the end of July and got news that his tumor is “fairly” stable. There are possible signs of growth, but nothing overly concerning to his oncologist. He is going to increase the dosage of his oral chemo and keep up with 3-Month Visits and 6 Month MRI scans. You can see his scan on the left - it shocks me every time I see this monster (his tumor is everything in white on the image).

Bensons looking forward to his “Benson Day” on Aug 29th where we remember that diagnosis day, 5 years ago, and spend time doing as many fun things as a family to remember how thankful we are for him and his fight. Life as a child with cancer is hard, he faces bullies at school, overwhelming emotions he can’t quite process, learning challenges, and times when his body fails him in ways he doesn’t understand. I’m thankful everyday that despite it all he always keeps fighting and is the strongest boy I know ❤️

01/16/2022

Happy snow day from Georgia. We spent the day staying warm, watching ghostbusters and relaxing ❄️

Benson has been doing well, his MRI results came back stable last week which is amazing. His medicine is continuing to work to keep the “bad guy” away. He also got his first Covid shot like a champ 💪🏼

Wishing you and yours well ❤️❤️

12/13/2021

It’s been a little while since we’ve updated over here … Benson is cruising through 1st grade surrounded by such an amazing faculty and staff at his school. We spent this past weekend in North Carolina celebrating birthdays and after this week the kids will be out for winter break. Benson has his MRI next week and we are hopeful for good news and stability.

We are happy to be hanging around town this year for Christmas and surrounded by family and friends 🌲

10/16/2021

Benson has been doing awesome lately. He had a 3 hour NeuroPsychology appointment where they assess cognitive delays and differences as a result of his tumor. We have been so thankful to have an amazing psychologist who has given us so much insight to how Benson thinks and learns differently over the past few years. One thing she said is she loves how Benson advocates for himself, she asked him if he could write a sentence and he said no … she was so proud of him for expressing that without just staying silent or melting down. He really has come so far in the past 2 years since we saw her last. It was also “Cape Day” at CHOA, it almost brought tears to my eyes seeing him walk out in that green cape … 4 years earlier we were drapping a cape over him in an ICU bed.

School is going great, Benson loves being in person with his classmates. We had his IEP review last week and I feel so lucky he is surrounded by amazing teachers and staff at his school that support him in so many ways. Benson’s parapro meets him outside every morning to carry his backpack for him, but starting next week he is going to walk in by himself. It amazes me that 3 years ago I was bringing him into school with a wheelchair. He is getting so strong and more independent everyday.

Benson is looking forward to Halloween, he is planning on being some Spider-Man villain - I can’t keep up these days! Video games fill this house, dancing, tons of laughter, good vibes and finally that little bit of normalcy we have missed for so long 🥰

09/09/2021

Every year we walk with Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation - Southeast Region in the Starry Night Walk to raise money towards awareness and a CURE for Pediatric Brain Tumors. Both last year and this years event have gone virtual due to Covid. We hope that you will join our virtual team, make a pledge to walk and help raise money for this amazing foundation!

We also have a T-Shirt campaign LIVE, through this a percentage of each T-Shirt sold will go directly to Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation under the team!

https://www.bonfire.com/bensonstrong/

https://team.curethekids.org/team/348705

Buy merchandise that supports Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Featuring Charcoal Premium Unisex Tees, professionally printed in the USA.

07/30/2021

First Grade here we come ✏️✏️✏️

07/05/2021

Happy Fourth of July from Benson and our entire family. We loved just hanging out today, eating hamburgers, fishing by the lake and watching the fireworks light up our neighborhood 🎇🧨

07/02/2021

Benson has been having an awesome summer, hanging out at Aurora Day Camp with Parson, continuing his OT, PT and Speech, going to the pool and playing video games! Thank you Aurora Day Camp for these awesome pictures of Benson doing yoga, friendship bracelets with his counselor and fun times on the bus to camp 😍

05/26/2021

I think it’s safe to say Benson CRUSHED Kindergarten! Today was officially his last day of school and this boy has grown so much this year ✨He was so lucky to have an amazing teacher, parapros and staff who absolutely allowed him to thrive at Kennesaw Elementary School!

Benson also got his MRI results back yesterday and his tumor is stable 🎉🎉 We got the amazing news that he will move from MRI every 3 months, to MRI every 6 months and into a maintenance phase. This will be incredible because he will be fully sedated for MRIs until he is old enough to lay still for the 60-90 min scans (which probably won’t be until he is a teenager).

Anyways, we are jumping into summer and the boys are so excited to be back at Aurora Day Camp, the pool, playing hours of video games and chillen out ☀️☀️☀️

05/14/2021

Benson struggled with his oncology appointment last week, and also saw psychology, endocrinology and pre-op for his next MRI. We played this game “guess what face I’m making under my mask” and also basketball with torn up pieces of paper from the table.

Benson can have a hard time processing and expressing his feelings and for me especially become very difficult. He was turning the lights on and off when the doctor was talking, crying, hitting me, and trying to run away. Some days his behavior is challenging, but I try my best to give him grace. I understand these appointments are over stimulating, bothersome and not something a 6 year old boy wants to do. At the end of the day, he is my superhero and I just do my best to help him acknowledge and process his emotions.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers next week, Benson has his MRI at 6 am Monday morning. Scanxiety is always real, but hopefully we will be in and out and get some good results 💪🏼

05/04/2021

Benson has been doing awesome lately, he seems to be getting stronger and stronger by the day. We have been going on small hikes and its truly amazing to see his endurance improve so much over the past few weeks. He is able to make it about 1.5 miles and last week over some pretty tough terrain.

We did a long appointment this morning and saw endocrinology, psychology, oncology and pre-op for his MRI in two weeks. Appointments like that make me so thankful that we will finally be entering into a maintenance phase. We should hopefully be able to start going to MRIs every 6 months instead of 3 🙌🏼

Otherwise, Benson is wrapping up his kindergarten year strong and excited for the summer. The boys are eager to get back to Aurora Day Camp, the swimming pool and so many more adventures 😎

03/26/2021

Nothing like some fresh spring air, windows rolled down, and Elton John 💕 Side note: This was filmed in a parking lot, and just too good not to share.