Grants Pass, Ore. — A local toddler is heading home on Thursday after his last chemo treatment. It’s been a year-long battle.
Three-year-old Klyde is noted by his family as a little “hero.” Since last year, Klyde’s had to go through rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. But now, with a clean bill of health – he’s ready to head home.
“Oh my gosh, klyde is – oh boy, he’s crazy,” said Maddie Doig, Klyde’s mother.
Klyde is a three-year-old boy just like any other – loves his parents and loves ninja turtles.
“He’s just boy – all through and through. He’s just crazy, rambunctious from the second he wakes up,” she said.
So rambunctious, you might not even tell Klyde is a cancer patient. He was diagnosed January of last year after doctors found a rare brain tumor.
“It started with him just getting nauseous and throwing up a lot”
Klyde’s parents, Maddie and Jon, took Klyde to a doctor who said it was a stomach bug.
“This is something more. Right away the doctor looked at him and said – I want to get some imaging done, take him to the ER,” she said.
The results ended up being what no parent ever wants to hear.
“Sure enough, they found a tumor,” she said.
Klyde’s parents say the tumor was about the size the size of a ping-pong ball in the back of his head. Right away, Klyde had to have surgery and the family trekked to Portland for regular radiation and chemotherapy.
“We were living here for at least the first 6 months,” she said.
And those first 6 months weren’t easy – Klyde had multiple trips to the ICU.
“Being in a coma, intubated – was not the normal Klyde. So it was really hard seeing him not be himself,” she said.
Fast forward 52 weeks and Klyde is ready to go home.
“He knows that this is the end, he’s so excited,” she said.
Klyde will still have to take trips to Portland for regular check-ups every three months. Other than that, he’s free to start working back to a normal life as a normal kid without cancer. And family members are trying to organize a big welcome on 6th street for when the family heads back. If you’d like to join in, line up along the sidewalks near 4 p.m. on Thursday.
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