St. Jude mom reflects on the gift of watching her son play again after brain cancer

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® is a blessing. It has a very special place in my heart. Every time Luis Carlos and I go for his checkups, I’m glad to be there, but I’m also grateful every time we get to walk back outside together. 

We had a very close call once when he was being treated for medulloblastoma, which is a kind of brain cancer. I didn’t know what to do. I looked at the nurse. I worried we would lose him. 

But everybody at St. Jude worked together. They did all the tests and figured out exactly what was wrong.  

St. Jude gave me my child back. He’s smiling and thriving. And that is priceless.  

Luis Carlos is back in school and making good grades. Each year, we participate in the St. Jude Walk to give back. 

We went to our first FedEx St. Jude Championship last year and had so much fun watching the golfers. Since then, he’s been learning to play.

I had my youngest daughter Nova when he was in treatment. Fragile as he was, Luis Carlos would want to help me, even though sometimes he could barely walk.  He would want to carry her diaper bag. I’m like, “No kid, I got it.” 

Luis Carlos is the one who picked Nova’s name because of supernovas — when they explode it makes beautiful explosion of bright colors.  

Now, my three kids are growing up together. Luis Carlos is 15 and learning to drive because he wants to help me even more with Nova and my middle child, Luna. The girls are 3 years old and 7 years old. He’s such a helper with them. He’s so sweet.

As a parent, you change when you go to St. Jude. You become more aware that there are children in the world who are hurting. You become a little bit more sensitive. And more patient. And you remember to enjoy life a little bit more.  

During treatment, all Luis Carlos wanted was to get back to playing baseball. But near the end of treatment, he began to worry: What if treatment ended, and he didn't know how to be a kid anymore?  

Now, he plays varsity baseball as a catcher. It makes me feel good to watch him on the field, catching those balls with his mitt. 

Baseball takes on a whole new meaning now because it’ s not just, “Win, win, win.” It’s not about whether you hit the ball, or you catch the ball the right way. It’s about getting to have a childhood.  

Before all of this, I was like, “Kid, you got to do better. You got to make sure you stand this way and hit the ball.”  

And now it’s like, “I don’t care whether you won the game or you didn’t win the game, whether you batted all the way home or whether you caught all the balls or none of the balls. I was just happy to see you out on the field and enjoying life.”  

I tell him: “Enjoy being a kid. Enjoy the fact that you’re trying your hardest because I’ve already seen you fight for your life, harder than most adults ever could. Don’t worry about the game. Go out there and have fun, and that’s it. Do your best. I’m not going to get mad. And don’t be mad at yourself. 

“You have fought the biggest battles of your life. In my eyes, you’re already a winner. You've already won.  

“If anybody dares to say anything to you, let them come to me.” 

Read more about Luis Carlos and the three words that became his family’s motto at St. Jude.