Teen battling brain tumor

Thirteen-year-old Travis Yazzie and his brother Nathan play with a Gameboy in their home in Indian Wells, Ariz. Travis has medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumor. The tumor was removed in December, but Travis still has to endure chemotherapy treatments once a month in Phoenix. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

INDIAN WELLS — "Medulloblastoma."

The word flows easily out of Travis Yazzie's mouth.

It's a word with which he's familiar.

The 13-year-old was diagnosed with this type of brain tumor last November.

Surgeries and radiation treatment has left him temporarily bald and a long scar stretches from his head to his neck.

But his fight is not over.

Yazzie sat on the couch in the living room, fiddling with a video game on Friday afternoon.

Cousins and brothers surrounded him, crowding over to watch him play.

Yazzie leaned back into the couch , a little disinterested in the conversation, as his parents spoke about his condition.

"Sit up," his father, Arnold Bain, told him.

Yazzie was diagnosed with his brain tumor in November, but has been fighting it since April of 2005.

"Everytime he (ate) food, he (vomited)," Bain said. "He (became) dehydrated and (ended) up in the hospital."

Three times during the months leading up to Yazzie's diagnosis, he was flown to Phoenix Children's Hospital.

On the last visit, Yazzie was placed in the mental health ward doctors then thought his condition was psychological.

And he improved.

His father said that on one visit, Yazzie looked like himself and ate the plate of hot dogs and hamburgers his father brought.

Yazzie returned home and enjoyed his summer as usual playing basketball with his friends and running around outside. He started eighth grade in August at Holbrook Junior High School.

Then, his dad said, Yazzie started to complain about headaches.

"Because the tumor was barely growing," Yazzie interjected.

Bain noticed that Yazzie began to stagger when he walked, but Yazzie continued to go to school.

An eye appointment in November gave the family unexpected results the doctor noticed a growth behind his eye.

Yazzie was given a CAT scan at a local hospital a few days later and, once again, flown to Phoenix Children's Hospital. This time he had surgery.

The doctor's were able to get all of the small growth, but Yazzie faced another obstacle six weeks of radiation.

"He was so tired of it," said Betty Yazzie, his mother. "The last two days, we had to force him to go."

Yazzie ended the radiation treatments about two weeks ago. He now faces monthly chemotherapy treatments.

Yazzie will make the once-a-month trips to Phoenix for treatment, but because he needs to stay as healthy as possible, he's not allowed outside much.

While Indian Health Service and the state's social services programs have picked up most of Yazzie's medical expenses, the family is responsible for a portion of his medications and travel expenses back and forth to Phoenix.

"We're having a hard time right now," his mother said.

The community has rallied around them somewhat. Yazzie's school has donated money from fund-raisers and a church and other local programs have given money as well.

But it was a bucket in the school that brought Dee-Dee Bob to the family.

Bob said she was picking up her son for lunch at the school when she noticed a nearly empty bucket for donations with information about Yazzie on it. The bucket, she said, held just 7 cents.

"It hit me that there was only 7 cents in there," Bob said.

So Bob got on the phone and within a few days planned a country-western dance to raise money for Yazzie and his family.

"He's a real trooper," she said of Yazzie.

The dance brought in more than $700 for Yazzie's expenses money his mother is grateful for.

"We've had such good doctors," she said. "I'm so thankful for (everybody)."

While Yazzie's mother divided her time between him and the rest of her family Yazzie has three brothers his father spent every minute with Yazzie during his radiation treatment.

"I told him, 'no matter what it takes, I'm going to go through this with you'," Bain said. "It seems like it smacked you like that" (he snapped his finger). "It's time for you to wake up."

Betty Yazzie said the whole experience is tough.

"It seems like we didn't know what he was going through," she said. "There was nothing wrong, but pretty soon, it got worse."

For more information call (928) 654-3551. An account has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank under Travis Yazzie.