Niles Township 12-year-old has wish fulfilled, to meet John Cena

Published 1:17 am Friday, June 13, 2008

By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Alex Severinghaus, like many kids his age, has that little something that sits just behind his eyes. It's an energy. The kind that suppresses itself when company is around. He is attentive and quiet and polite – and just under his breath, he sings the words to the music on the radio.
He's a Guitar Hero fan, his favorite song to play, 'One' by Metallica, a band that's older than him. He's into sports, like basketball and baseball but this summer, he said, he just wants to spend some time being a kid.
Like many kids his age.
One has to be hesitant in describing Alex as "different." He's not really. As a child who has lived his life with Cystic Fibrosis – he is no different than the 30,000 other Americans, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, who struggle with the disease.
He may share those struggles. He may understand what it's like to live with the chronic illness. But to many Alex is – not different – but special. Extraordinary, really.
His biggest fan, as it would seem – and almost not surprisingly – is his mother, Janette. She speaks of her son with more than just a mother's love, but with admiration. She recounts the minutes, days and years since Alex was diagnosed with his illness – at five and half months – triumphantly.
And their triumphs are now being rewarded.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan has granted a wish for Alex. He, Janette and her niece will head to Utah to attend a taping of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Raw – and meet famed wrestler and actor, John Cena.
"My uncle got me into wrestling about two years ago," said Alex, and he nods enthusiastically when asked if he's excited about his wish.
"The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan grants the wishes of children with life threatening illnesses," explains Merry Gastambide, Senior Wish manager with the foundation, "while enriching their experience "with hope, strength and joy."
Alex will not only attend a taping of WWE Raw. When Cena heard about the special guest he told the foundation, "I have to meet this kid." The wrestler is relatively active with Make-A-Wish – as can be seen on his page at we.com/superstars/raw/johncena/. Alex and his family will spend the day with the wrestler before the event. "It gives them something to look forward to," said Gastambide, about granting wishes like these to children across the state. "Something to talk about when they have so many other things that are on their mind."
All in all it has taken Alex and Janette about a year of communication and paperwork with Make-A-Wish of Michigan to see his wish granted. But that is nothing for this mother and son.
According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the disease is one that affects the lungs and digestive system. About 1,000 cases are diagnosed each year and 70 percent of patients are diagnosed by age two. As of 2006, the foundation reports that the median age of survival was 37 years old.
Alex has to have breathing treatments and a variety of medications – 15 in all – every day. "If he's sick, it's four times a day," for breathing treatments, Janette said. "It's a hard thing for him to deal with because he has to do it every day." Because of the mucus buildup that will occur in the lungs of Cystic Fibrosis patients, Janette said it takes longer for them to recover from a standard illness like a cold. Bronchitis and Pneumonia are more than just a concern – they're a threat to those with the disease.
"I stay on him," Janette said. "I do. I'm hard." Her diligence is understandable. "You'd do anything for your child," she said. But her concern also comes with a tone of survival. She and Alex have had quite the trials … quite the tribulations.
Doctors didn't catch Alex's diagnosis right away. When Janette took him to the hospital after he'd stopped urinating, his skin tone white and his body lifeless, she said she was told he was just congested. Emergency room doctors weren't going to see him. The pediatrician diagnosed him with asthma. Janette went down to the cafeteria for a few moments and when she returned …
"I almost lost him."
Alex had "been down for five minutes" and Janette returned to find doctors trying to revive him. He was put on a helicopter destined for Bronson Methodist Hospital. "You make sure my son makes it," Janette instructed the one of the crewmembers of the helicopter. "I'll see you there."
Janette beat the helicopter to the hospital by 30 minutes. She waited for doctors to bring Alex in from the landing pad. They didn't. They lost him again on the helicopter, she found out later. After agonizing moments in waiting, Janette's son had been revived and they brought him inside. Overcome with dehydration, Janette said her five and half month old son resembled the size of a two-year-old. A tube had to be inserted into his knee bone, she said, to give him fluids. He was in the Intensive Care Unit for seven days, on life support and put into a medically induced coma to keep him from fighting the tubes that were helping keep him alive.
After that, Alex had finally been diagnosed. And what followed was a new way of living, a new way of being for the mother and son who shoot glances at each other from time to time not unlike two close friends.
"It was a big change," Janette said. She struggled with work, needing employers to understand that her schedule was not necessarily her own. "I had missed a lot of work," she said.
The stress had the already petite Janette down to just 78 pounds. But she hadn't even noticed. She was too preoccupied in making sure she was doing everything she needed to for young Alex. "This was all new to me," she said. She set alarm clocks for every medication her son had to take, to ensure he was taking them on time.
There have been six surgeries for Alex. He and his mother make regular visits to a Cystic Fibrosis clinic in Grand Rapids. They make the trip every three months regularly, "or as needed."
If Janette and Alex's experiences are any indication, the disease is one that never really fades or goes dormant. Janette recalls another incident when Alex was taken in to a doctor who found he had bronchitis – but never told her. He was, again, admitted to the hospital.
But as it was stated before … Alex is no ordinary kid.
He was supposed to stay in the hospital for two weeks, Janette said. "He came home in four days."
Now almost 13, anxiously waiting to board the plane and head for the WWE, Alex speaks with a sense of realism and quiet strength that is unique to his age. "I've just got to remember to keep on doing my treatments," he said, when asked what it's been like for him. "I struggle every now and then…" he shoots another glance at his mother. "But she keeps me on track."
Since Alex has been diagnosed, Janette has had to do manual percussion on him, 45 minutes of rhythmic patting on his back to help break up the mucus in his lungs. When he was six and a half, they were able to acquire a special unit – a vest he wears that connects to tubes that pump air and create automatic vibrations. He uses it twice a day.
He gets annoyed sometimes, Janette said. But if one were to judge a patient by their support system – Alex is in good hands. When he needs to, he turns to Joylynn Kelly, a medical social worker with the DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids or with his school counselor Mrs. Flora.
And speaking of school, Alex's face lights up when asked how he feels about entering the seventh grade in the coming year. Is he worried? No. "I do all that," Janette admits.
"You can't really be worried in my position," said Alex. "It'll all go downhill from there. I'll just get through it."
And get through it they have. There were times, Janette admits, when Alex was younger when the stress was overwhelming.
"You put them to bed and you cry and you ask God why and you throw things," she said. Because Cystic Fibrosis patients carry bacteria within their lungs, Janette said it's not the best situation to have two of them in close proximity. So Janette said the two of them learned how to cope with the disease mostly on their own. "I know why now. God gave me this child to be a better person. If he didn't think I could handle it, he wouldn't have given him to me."
"He doesn't know this," she adds. "But there's still sometimes I go in and check on him."
If the son is a reflection of his mother – Alex is promising survivor. An impressive young man. When asked the cliche question of what he wants to do when he gets older, Alex shrugs. "I just want to be successful in life basically." Some would argue he already is.
He wants to get an education and go to college. "I became more responsible," he said about his experiences. "I act more mature than most 12 year olds, too."
He may – but his focus this summer is to just have fun, relax and be a kid. And he's sure to do so when he makes his Make-A-Wish trip to Utah.
And thanks to advances in medicine, Alex has more time than Cystic Fibrosis patients of the past – for life changing moments like the one he'll have when he attends 'Raw' live. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation states that back in the 1950s, "few children with Cystic Fibrosis lived to attend elementary school." Now, "many people with the disease can now expect to live into their 30s, 40s and beyond."
He has already been the life changing moment for someone else.
"He's totally changed my life," Janette said.
According to Gastambide the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan has granted 440 wishes to children across the state this year alone.
Here in Niles, one of those wishes is a little extra special. Because it belongs to Alex Severinghaus.
For more information on the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan, visit www.wishmich.org.