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December 2, 2008

Tony Dungy's book gives hope to ill Valley boy

Cameron Switzer under goes weekly physical therapy for condition

By Howard Greninger

TERRE HAUTE — Cameron L. Switzer loves football, especially the Indianapolis Colts.

The game is part of his weekly physical therapy at Union Hospital in Terre Haute. The 10-year-old boy was diagnosed at age 5 with pilocytic astrocytoma, with tumors inside his spinal cord. He has since undergone three surgeries and chemotherapy.

On Tuesday, Switzer received one of six signed copies of Colts coach Tony Dungy’s new inspirational children’s book, “You Can Do It!” published this year. Dungy signed the book in blue ink.

“He has come a long way and has had to learn how to walk three different times,” said Sarah A. Switzer, his stepmother.

“He plays football and soccer with his friends, he does everything every other kid does,” she said. “He loves the Colts, which is his favorite team. He watches them every Sunday.”

Even last week, he watched parts of the game during his 10th birthday party. “I saw the first play of the game, a fumble,” he said of the Colts.

“I also saw when Peyton [Manning] fumbled the ball on the 1-yard line. It was 3 to 6,” Cameron said of the game score at the time. “I was like, oh no.”

Last year, Switzer went to his first Colts home game, a game against the Houston Texans. “They won by a lot,” Cameron said. Cameron said he would next like to see the Colts play in their new home, Lucas Oil Stadium. “I’d like to see them play the Titans,” he said.

Cameron lives with his father and stepmother, Michael L. and Sarah A. Switzer of Terre Haute. His mother and stepfather are Brooke and Andy Costello, also of Terre Haute. His grandparents, JoAnne and Les Switzer, help out tremendously, his stepmother said.

“The tumors are still there. There is a residual tumor at the bottom of his neck and also lower back. He gets an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] every three to six months to keep an eye on that. They [doctors] are hoping they don’t have to go back in. The tumors are non-cancerous, but are aggressive. If there is a problem, he would have radiation,” Sarah Switzer said.

Cameron came to therapy wearing a white No. 18 Colts jersey, that of quarterback Peyton Manning. He also had a Colts jacket. He goes to therapy twice a week at Union’s pediatric therapy facility and also has aquatic therapy once a week.

Cameron is a fourth-grader at Community Christian School on North 13th St. in Terre Haute. He has been coming to therapy for the past four years, first starting in a wheelchair, but now he can walk up stairs and run in his own unique way.

During therapy, Cameron walked up a set of wooden stairs, then physical therapist Erin Ford stretched his feet and arches while he lay on a large, short table. “He is doing really well and is progressing well. He has made a lot of gains,” Ford said. Ford helps Cameron work on balance, flexibility and motor skills.

Cameron wears braces that go in his shoes and help support his legs.

While in therapy, Ford uses the game of football as therapy. “Touchdown, good job,” she said as he slid down a slide Tuesday.

He used a large square, pretending it was an opposing team’s defender, climbing over the square, then running to a large cylinder, which he pushed with his legs while holding the football. He then ran around a large inflated pillow to a small trampoline, jumping three times, then went up a set of stairs and down a slide.

The next time around, he crawled on his hands and knees to the trampoline, then jumped through a large swing tire, then up a vertical ladder, before coming down the slide.

“You didn’t say ‘hut, hut, hut,’” Cameron told Ford before he went back over the same course. “OK,” she smiled. “Hut, hut, hut,” and off he went.

Union Hospital Foundation has a pediatric therapy fund that helps pay for therapy for children whose insurance does not cover a full year. The Service League of Union Hospital since 1993 has held an annual fundraising event, called the Children’s Classic Run, to raise funds for pediatric therapy, said Jim Bertoli, executive director of the foundation.

Bertoli purchased the books and asked Dungy to sign them during the Colts training camp earlier this year. “Anything that can help, especially children, Tony Dungy has been especially generous,” Bertoli said.

Cameron looked through Dungy’s book during part of his therapy session.

“I didn’t know he wrote books,” Switzer said of Dungy, but he planned to show the book to his school classmates. “I like him,” he said of Dungy.

At end of his therapy session, Switzer wanted to throw a pass. He shuffled out into a long therapy room and threw three-fourths the length of the room, quickly chasing after the ball.

Cameron said he planned to watch Sunday’s Colts game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He had a few words of advice for Coach Dungy.

“Do good,” he said.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com

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