Things are looking up
Chinle boy to receive cancer treatment at Mayo Clinic

Brayden Ahasteen, 4, draws cartoon characters on a chalkboard. Ahasteen has metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of cancer, and has been receiving chemotherapy for the last year with little improvement. He is going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for surgery and further radiation treatment. The Chinle youth and his family will make the trip to Minnesota, where they will stay for about the next 12 weeks. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Brayden Ahasteen isn't very different from other 4-year-old boys. Being a huge fan of Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine, Brayden's favorite place in the whole world is the toy department of Wal-Mart.

So from Brayden's perspective, life was pretty good last Saturday when his family drove from their home in Chinle, Ariz., and made the required stop at Wal-Mart.

But life is pretty good for another reason. Although Brayden has a rare form of childhood cancer, he's got a devoted family that has spent the last 14 months searching for a treatment for him.

This week their search will be taking them to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

On Saturday after the Wal-Mart visit Brayden's parents, Sharon Joe and Jerry Ahasteen, and Sharon's two adult children, Garrilynn Begay and Bryson Joe, brought Brayden to The Independent to talk about Brayden's battle with cancer and his upcoming treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

Soft tissue tumor
In August 2004 Sharon's mother was babysitting Brayden when she noticed that his pelvic area was swollen. When she examined Brayden more closely, she noticed the area was not only swollen but something very hard was spread across his pelvic area.

"It was just hard like a rock," explained Brayden's mother.

When Sharon Joe took her son to the hospital in Chinle, physicians there initially thought Brayden was just constipated, and they gave him stool softeners.

When the swelling didn't disappear, Brayden's parents made the decision to take him to the hospital in Fort Defiance. Physicians there quickly realized the swelling was the symptom of something potentially very serious, and they arranged to have Brayden flown to the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital that afternoon.

At the UNM hospital, a tissue biopsy revealed cancer cells. Within a couple of days, the family was given the diagnosis of metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. A tumor was responsible for the hard, swollen area that Brayden's grandmother first noticed.

According to the educational website of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive soft tissue tumor that can appear anywhere in the body. Soft tissue sarcomas account for about seven to eight percent of childhood cancer cases, and rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue tumor in children.

Doctors at UNM then presented the family with a "roadmap" of Brayden's treatment, explained Garrilynn Begay, Brayden's adult sister, and Brayden began his first five-day round of chemotherapy in November 2004. From November to August of this year, Brayden's family drove him from Chinle to Albuquerque every three weeks for five days of chemotherapy.

Brayden was left feeling weak and nauseous from each round of chemo. But what was even tougher on Brayden, explained his family, was that Brayden had to be confined to his house and couldn't play with other children to protect him from infections. It was a situation that left Brayden frustrated and short-tempered.

With Brayden's diagnosis, Begay quit her job in Phoenix, Ariz. and returned to Chinle to become Brayden's primary caretaker, so her mother and step-father could continue working and earning money to help cover the medical-related expenses. Sharon Joe works in a nursing home in Chinle and Jerry Ahasteen works for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

Begay said she didn't hesitate to leave Phoenix to help her family. "He's my brother," she said. "I'd do it for any of my brothers and sisters."

Second opinion
Unfortunately, nearly a year's worth of chemotherapy had only minimal impact on the cancerous tumor. At Sharon Joe's request, the UNM Children's Hospital helped Brayden's family seek a second opinion. Recalling her desperate feelings at the time, Brayden's mother recounted her plea to the UNM doctors: "Please, please don't give up on Brayden."

Dr. Carola Arndt, an international expert in childhood rhabdomyosarcoma at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was contacted and agreed to see Brayden earlier this month. On Oct. 11 Brayden, his mother, and grandmother flew to Minnesota, where Arndt and other Mayo specialists concluded that Brayden needed immediate surgery followed by radiation therapy.

The entire family is now preparing to make a cross-country drive to Minnesota so Brayden can have the surgery either Monday, Oct. 31 or Friday, Nov. 4. The Mayo Clinic has advised Brayden's family the surgery will take six to eight hours and will involve two primary surgeons and four other specialists. According to Sharon Joe, the Mayo physicians were very optimistic about Brayden's expected response to the surgery and radiation.

Older brother Bryson Joe is also optimistic. He said he's looking beyond Brayden's upcoming surgery and radiation therapy to a day in the future when he can teach Brayden the ins and outs of basketball.

All the family members expressed gratitude for the support they have received from family, friends, co-workers, employers, and medical professionals. In addition to the emotional support that has been offered, Brayden's family members said all those groups have also helped to sponsor a number of fund-raising events in the Chinle community.

During his family's interview with The Independent, Jerry Ahasteen spent most of his time keeping Brayden entertained by playing a game with him. Ahasteen did say that following Navajo tradition, he prays for his son each day.

"My main thought is just to get him better," he said.

Prayers were also very much on the mind of Sharon Joe. She asked that people keep her son in their prayers.

— Reporter Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at (505) 863-6811 ext. 218 or ehardinburrola@yahoo.com.