Super Hero Strong, Leukemia Fighter to Visit This Weekend

As JMU football prepares for its last home game of the regular season, it's also making arrangements to host a special guest, Callen Tyson.

Little boys are known to strap on a cape and pretend to be superheroes, but for 4-year-old Callen the fight against a threatening arch nemesis is all too real.

Diagnosed with Leukemia in March 2014, Callen and his family are in the midst of a battle, requiring Callen to be "superhero strong."

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But the news of Callen's diagnosis did not paralyze the Tyson family. Instead it mobilized a community. Team Callen and the motto of "superhero strong" came from Callen's preschool best friend Ben and his family. During the first week of diagnosis and treatment, Ben's family began selling Team Callen t-shirts with the phrase "superhero strong" for the overwhelming medical expenses.

"We disappeared into the hospital and didn't come home for about a week and unbeknown to us, they had started a t-shirt campaign online," Callen's mom, Katie Tyson, said. "I got on the website from my phone and I was blown away."

TeamCallen.com was then created to share Callen's story, promote fundraising activities and to give friends and family updates on Callen's journey. Katie regularly adds new posts to the blog and looks to the guestbook section for encouragement.

"There are days when those responses have just rescued me from that feeling of isolation," Katie said. "The smallest gesture can get us through that very dark moment when we're alone with our thoughts at five-o-clock in the morning, wondering what the day will hold."

Directly after diagnosis, Callen endured an initial seven-day hospitalization, which included bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps and chemotherapy. Instead of the usual intense 29-day induction phase, Callen proved to be a rare case requiring an extra 10 weeks before gaining remission.

"It was the most heinous stretch of treatment he'll ever have to go through," Katie painfully reflected.

Currently fighting a weak immune system, Callen's scheduled chemotherapy is temporarily on hold until he has the strength to handle the intense medication. This also causes challenges to Callen's daily life, as play-dates, preschool, church and even grocery store trips are off-limits while he recovers.

Katie said it's difficult to keep an active, fun-loving 4-year-old indoors, but they've gotten creative. Playing Wii and board games are two ways to battle the boredom, and a couple of 750-1000 piece puzzles cover the Tyson's dinning room table.

"He's become the puzzle master," Katie said. "He has an incredible sense of spatial relations."

In just over a week, Callen will turn 5 on Thanksgiving Day, and if you ask Callen how old he is before that, he'll inform you that he's not 4, but 4 3/4. "That's a very big thing at this age," Katie said.

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Before birthday and Thanksgiving celebrations will be a trip to JMU, a beloved place for the Tyson family. With their big brother Matt in his junior year at JMU, the Tyson children all have a certain passion for the school. Seven-year-old Olivia declares certain days at home to be JMU spirit days for everyone to deck out in purple and gold.

Callen and his family will play with the JMU football team on Friday during the final walkthrough before Saturday's game. They will also join football for the traditional Friday dinner in the Student Success Center.

The Tyson family attended JMU's home football game against University of Richmond last year, a sacred family memory after being robbed of family opportunities since then.

"With everything that has changed over the eight months since diagnosis, we have very few opportunities to do things as a family unit." Katie said. "[JMU's] just a place that brings such happy memories."

Callen is receiving treatment at the VCU Medical Center (MCV), which is a familiar place for the Tysons. Not only do they frequently return for Callen's chemo sessions and sudden hospitalizations, but it's also the place where Katie spent eight years completing medical school and her residency, as well as where Callen was born.

From the convenience of knowing how to get to the cafeteria to the comfort of seeing familiar faces during the most challenging time of her life, MVC has been a blessing for Katie and the Tyson family.

"You go through a lot when they're making you into a physician and it's such a group effort to survive medical school and residency," Katie said. "So to come back in a very different, but also challenging, ordeal and there are those same people who pick you up and support you, it's so comforting."

Flashing back to March, fevers and severe joint pain initially brought Callen to the hospital. It was Tuesday, March 13, 2014, that the Tyson family received Callen's life-altering diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

"You're not touched by cancer, you're pummeled by it," Katie said.

Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow, which produces red and white blood cells. When leukemia is present, the bone marrow creates abnormal white blood cells. This leads to anemia and a weaker defense against infection. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is the most common type of childhood leukemia.

Callen is on the threshold of maintenance therapy, which will last until June 23, 2017. The following phase will transition away from rigorous treatments and provide more therapy at home, where he will gain more strength and freedom.

In the meantime, the Tysons look forward to this weekend's JMU visit and time with the football team, where all six family members can enjoy time together.

"It's a reunion of sorts that we could not even imagine when this all began, in a place that has nothing but happy memories," Katie said. "And we are so grateful for the opportunity to put cancer in the back seat."

In addition to Friday's activities with the team, Callen will lead the team's pregame dog walk around 9:50 a.m. Saturday morning through Godwin Field. He will also serve as an honorary captain for the coin toss before then joining his family in the stands to enjoy the game.