We may have discovered COVID-19’s Achilles Heel – American men who are named Chuck. No matter how disrupted, discomfited or outright inconvenient the disease can make a life, at least two men carrying the same monosyllabic moniker have not allowed a viral sucker punch to knock ’em off of their feet. Chuck Robic kicked COVID’s viral tushy when it dared to invade his 97-year old person. Chuck Yielding, 48, has been busy shaking off one of the virus’ inescapable side effects while dancing to his son’s favorite music.
In April, when the Wuhan novel coronavirus outbreak was approaching its peak, Chuck and Lori Yielding of Fort Worth, TX brought their 14-year old son in to see the doctor. He’d been running a high fever for a few days and there were real concerns young Aiden was infected with COVID-19. That would have been a relief. After some tests had been run, the teen was diagnosed with B-cell ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), a form of blood cancer.
from cancer.org:
-Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and teens, accounting for almost 1 out of 3 cancers. Most childhood leukemias are acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).
-The 5-year survival rate for children with ALL has greatly increased over time and is now about 90% overall.
-The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of children who live at least 5 years after their leukemia is diagnosed. With acute leukemias (ALL or AML), children who are free of the disease after 5 years are very likely to have been cured, because it’s very rare for these cancers to return after this long.
They have been a tight group, the Yielding family, as they wage war against leukemia. Or, “koolemia” as Aiden prefers to call it. Chuck and Lori share in every blow their son takes and lands; both parents even stay with Aiden when he is receiving chemotherapy treatments at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. That is, until COVID-inspired changes to hospital visitation rules wedged themselves between family members.
Cook Children’s Medical Center adopted a one parent policy for their pediatric patients. The hospital’s young patients would be permitted only one adult companion for all medical appointments, in-patient hospitalisations and out-patient procedures, period. The family had to make a choice. Since Lori works as a nurse anesthetist at the hospital where Aiden was receiving his chemotherapy treatments, the Yieldings decided it would be sensible for Dad to play chauffeur, driving Aiden to the hospital while Mom would stay with their son during the treatments.
“He’s really been struggling with bone pain and it’s hard not to be able to reach out and touch him,” Yielding said. “But what I can do is make him laugh.”
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On Tuesdays, when Aiden is receiving chemotherapy treatments while in the company of his mother, Chuck is outside sitting in a lawn chair he brought along, working on a laptop – between performances. Situating himself where he knows Lori and Aiden are able to get a good view, Chuck dances and gyrates to some of Aiden’s favorite songs in an effort to take the teen’s mind off of his pain, even if just a little.
“It’s funny watching him figuring out all that he is going to do. Yup. It just cheers me up some times,” said Aiden.
From his folding chair vantage point, Yielding is able to see inside the building and keep his eye on Lori and Aiden – knowing just when to spring into action. The Dancing Dad isn’t worried about strangers opinions when bustin’ a move, he’s there to make his boy smile. During breaks between rounds of treatment, Aiden might go up to the window and break it down with Dad.
“My dad always cheers me up when I’m having a bad day,” Aiden told TODAY Parents. “We’ve been creating our own dances since I was little. We get down with it!”
Father and son dance and laugh with one another, despite the social distancing, mask mandates, and three stories of building trying to keep them apart. Lori said she loves to see the routine between her husband and son, and she said it proves just how important family is during these tough times.
“Family is everything, togetherness is everything, but even when you can’t be together as a whole family as a unit you find ways that you can,” said Lori.
Aiden’s prognosis to beat ‘koolemia’ is good. He has more than two years of on and off again chemotherapy treatments in his future. The visitors and employees of Cook Children’s Medical Center probably won’t mind if COVID restrictions aren’t lifted before Aiden’s treatment program is completed. So long as Chuck Yielding has to stay in the parking lot.