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Upon arriving to school, I saw one of my friends, who promptly asked, "Are you going? Did you hear?" I was confused, due to the simple fact I hadn't come into school until then. I usually go to the movies with him, so I thought some new movie was released. In this case, I was dead wrong.
It was, in fact, the announcement of a long time friend's death. My friend, Max, had succumb to cancer. After an over seven year battle with a mildly aggression strain of Neuroblastoma (which was mainly affecting his spinal cord and nervous system).
When I first met Max, he was taking two full strength adult Advil tablets a day, because his doctor(s) believed he had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA). He found out only about 8 months later it was actually cancer.
Two years later, he was in remission, all was well. I had done our sixth grade ILP (basically, a project that counted for all classes) on his cancer, elaborately planning a new chemotherapy, as well as a kid in sixth grade could. I researched his cancer for months, reading about chemo treatments and checking in on his own clinical use drugs.
Less than a year later, he had come out of remission, with his cancer reverting back to its original state. For the next five years, from seventh grade to eleventh grade, he would be forced to switch drugs often, due to the adverse side effects. Once his nails grew and then hardened, yet became extremely sensitive, so much so that an accidental tap on a table once threw him into a bout of pain. Most made his hair fall out, some caused digestive problems, the usuals you may have heard of.
Throughout the years, he had growths throughout his body. The most noticeable was a large growth, think two golf balls together, on his left cheekbone. When I last saw him, not but a week and a half ago, he had nearly 15 smaller growths on his skull. His body was once again struggling to fight off the cancer.
I haven't heard if he passed peacefully, but he was in a bad state the last time I saw him. I'm told the cancer fought off so many drugs, that it was declared non-treatable for Max.
So, right now, I'm in a bad place. Although I am, please don't randomly PM or query me, I'm not in a mood for anything like that. Simply, I just wanted people to know why I may snap or not respond to comments and questions. Also, I hope people will read this and know of Max.
My final comments are concerning his accomplishments. While he died at 17, but two months into that, he is known for a couple of things.
1) He was part of a USA today article:
http://www.usatoday....en-cancer_x.htm
That story was written when he was 14.
Quote
Fourteen-year-old Max Levine owes his life to experimental cancer therapies. Yet a drug that helped keep him alive might never reach the market.
Unfortunately, I believe that he was forced off of the trial of that drug, due to the effects on his body.
Quote
Max's mother, Sue Levine, says she's counting on scientists to come up with new drugs. Experimental therapies have given Max two years. Although 131I-MIBG stopped working after six months, it kept the Cherry Hill, N.J., boy alive long enough to become eligible for another experimental drug, which has controlled his cancer for a year and a half.
"The fact that my son is here playing with his GameBoy is a miracle," Levine says. "If my son can give these doctors some knowledge, he's willing to try it."
"The fact that my son is here playing with his GameBoy is a miracle," Levine says. "If my son can give these doctors some knowledge, he's willing to try it."
I hope everyone can take that into account. We think that we, whether in the West or the East, are safe at all times, when really we aren't. We're luck enough to have our health and have insurance or universal health care to protect us, but in Max's case, it was not enough, and will not be enough for many kids like him.
2) Here's a CHOP (Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania) PDF on Max, describing another drug he was using, describing how it affected him and why many with cancer are forced to wander around the country trying to find help:
http://www.chop.edu/...05/oncology.pdf
3) Max had participated a lot in "Alex's Lemonade." Here's an article he's mentioned in (sorry for the format, Comcast sucks):
http://www.comcast.n...5/21/396675.xml
Or the ABC version:
http://abclocal.go.c...=...&id=4187365
Or, Alex's Lemonade's own newsletter (bottom right, mentions our high school as well):
http://www.alexslemo...r%20march06.pdf
4) http://eastside-onli...f-art-students/
This story is actually from my school newspaper. The picture shows Max in a wheelchair.
I don't think his obituary has been published, so that is all I can tell you.
May he rest in peace, Max Levine, 17.
-Sir Galahad
EDIT: Even after toying with them (twice), the links seem to be acting stupidly. They should work, but be prepared for possible 404, or "Can't Find Server" errors, really sorry.
This post has been edited by Justitia: 18 April 2008 - 06:32 AM
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This is slightly awkward because I was reading funny epitaphs before I came here.
