June 2, 2009: Nate's Graduation

I went home a few weeks ago to soak up some California sun and for the main event - Nate's graduation. It was great to see how much better he is doing (he is still as thin as a rail, but I think he is one of those lucky souls who always will be). It was also cool to see how loved Nate is by his friends, his teachers, and the community at large. As promised, here are some shots of the big high school farewell (Nate is the 6th and final Sparks Canyon High School grad).

Here's a little photo shoot I did with Nate before we left the house. He's hilarious. He won't smile for photos, but he sure will pose for them.
See the toothy smile in this photo? I was tickling him to make him laugh so that we got a real smile. I love this kid.
The Sparks Family (at least those of us who could make it): Shaughanie (with baby boy on the way), Eva (who was up way past her bedtime and was thus unwilling to look at the camera), Michael (who was sworn into the CA Bar earlier in the day-congrats!), Dad (who is sort of hiding in the back for some strange reason), me, The Graduate, Benji and Mom. One of the joys of coming from a big family is getting a huge cheering section, and trust me when I say I couldn't talk the next morning from screaming so loudly.
Victory! Nate has had a banner year. He has survived high school (a feat in and of itself) and leukemia. Dad had his robes embroidered with the orange cancer awareness ribbon which was fantastic in two ways: (1) it made Nate stand out so that we could see him in the crowd, and (2) it made Nate feel like he accomplished great things even though so much of his senior year was spent in a hospital. Congratulations Baby Brother, we're so proud of you!

May 2009: From Jerry

May brought a number of highlights for Nate beginning with Prom on May 9.  He went with Lauren Riddle, who is a lovely girl and has ironically a neighbor since we moved into our house when Nate was 17 months old.  They had a great time and looked about as great as you can.
  
May 21, 2009 was Senior Recognition Night and Nate was invited to attend.  During the ceremonies, he was awarded a $2,000.00 scholarship from the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation.  It was based on his GPA, school involvement and essay he submitted.  He also received another $500.00 scholarship from the Michael Hoefflin Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research.  Way to go Nate!!!!!
  
May 30, 2009 was the City of Santa Clarita's Relay for Life.  Many teams sign up to walk the track and a member of each team needs to be on the track at all times for 24 hours from 9 am Saturday to 9 am Sunday.  The relay is to raise money for cancer research.  It was held at Central Park and had lots of tents and booths, along with the track, it was amazing.  Nate first checked in at the Survivor Village where he was given a purple survivor shirt and medal.  At 9:00 they had the "Survivors Lap."  It was pretty amazing seeing him walk with so many others.  During the day they had many different activities, screenings for different kinds of cancer and booths.  They also sold small paper bags for $10.00 for the luminary cermony.  Any person could purchase one and decorate it any way they wanted.  Most are dedicated to loved ones lost to cancer and to survivors.  They line them up all the way around the track on both sides.  It was very sobering and humbling at 7:00 pm to walk around the track and see at least 30 luminaries dedicated to Nate, many with his picture.  At 9:00 pm there was a program and they interviewed 7 cancer survivors from every age group.  Nate was asked to represent the teenagers.  He did a great job and made everybody laugh!  They then had a candle ceremony with hundreds of people and a giant slide show lasting 45 minutes with pictures of people in the community who had died from cancer and those who were survivors.  That night, Nate found out his sister Jocie had arrived as a surprise for him.  She was there for both his ordination and graduation.
  
May 31, 2009 was a special day for many reasons.  Since we had a lot of the family together Nate decided he wanted to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and be ordained an Elder in our church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was a spiritual and sweet experience to be surrounded by Dad, Mom, Jocie, Shaughanie, Michael, Eva and Benjamin, plus many dear friends, some of whom have known Nate since he was born.  That evening Nate graduated from Seminary.  He had attended Seminary for all four years of high school from 6:30 to 7:20 am.  Even when he was sick and in the hospital, his teacher, Brother Steve Snow taped the lessons for him.  Which was so kind of him.  We all are very proud of Nate for these righteous choices. 

April 2009: From Jerry

April 1-8, 2009 was spring break for Nate.  He, Dad and Mom spent a week in Texas visiting Jeremiah, Marci, Ethan, Kaden (and baby Rito who is still growing in Marci's stomach).  Needless to say, it was a wonderful trip.  Nate had been a year ago for spring break, but Dad and Mom had not been to visit though they had tickets to go when Nate got sick.  It's OK for Dad and Mom not to be their grandson's favorite people because no one will ever be adored more than Nate is by Ethan and Kaden.  The love and adoration is mutual.  Nate spent a lot of time playing hide and seek with them and just hanging out.  It has always been wonderful to see how much love Nate has for the boys.
The day after Nate came home from TX he was asked to be the inspirational speaker at a football camp.  One of the boys in our neighboring ward, Taylor Kozck, decided to have a football camp for his Eagle Scout Project.  One of the awards given at the camp was the "Nate Sparks Determination Award".  Nate talked to the boys about dedication and overcoming obstacles in their lives.  A person who went told us he was really inspiring and, of course we were very proud of him.
Also during April, Nate's cousin Becky, her husband, Scott, and children Rilee, Ashlee and Kyller came to Disneyland for a visit.  We were all excited to go see them along with Nate's other cousin Emily.  Becky and her family have been so supportive of Nate and all of us through his illness.  Interestingly, Nate accidently broke Rilee's arm jumping on the trampoline when she was little and she was so proud of her cast.  Fun memories. 
Nate's 18th birthday was on April 30th which was on a Thursday and he had class that night so the whole family (Mom, Dad, Shaughan, Michael, Eva and Benji) took him to his favorite "restaurant."  In 'n Out Burger.  He was a happy guy.  The next day, Friday, we all went Go Cart Racing.  It was so much fun.  If anyone gets the opportunity to go, do it.  We had a blast.  Afterwards we took Nate to his favorite (upscale?) restaurant Outback Steak House.  There is nothing Nate likes more than steak! 
  

March 2009: From Jerry

During the month of March Nate continued to rest, sleep a lot and see his friends.  He still had to go in every single week to see his oncologist and be monitored.  This meant approximately 4 hours in the hospital including having 10 vials of blood taken, ex rays and a full examination.  His doctor happily reported that every week, his blood counts got better and better.
March 23, 2009 was the first day of the fourth quarter of the school year.  Back in July 2008 after Nate was diagnosed with leukemia, his oncologist told him if he was lucky he would make it to graduation in June, but not return to school for his senior year.  After his appointment with the Doctor on March 16th, she told him she saw no reason why he couldn't return to school for the last quarter.  (Of course, Nate had asked every single week for a month).  Although he had finished all his academic classes for graduation, the school was wonderful and he attended ASB, Leadership, Track, where he helped coach and was a Teaching Assistant one period and an Office Assistant another period.  It gave him a sense of normalacy and he was happy just to feel normal again going to school and hanging out with his friends. 

On March 31, 2009 Nate returned to the hospital to have his Hickman Catheter removed from his chest.  It had been part of him for 8 months and 1 week.  He made sure to ask them to give it to him after they removed it.  He said he wanted to keep it to remind him that through it was how he was kept alive.