Safe at home

Cancer survivor Michael Lavin returns in time for baseball season

Michael Lavin, Kalispell's favorite bald child, is home.

After nearly eight months of cancer treatment at Seattle Children's Hospital, some four months longer than they initially anticipated, Amy and Steve Lavin brought their 12-year-old son back where he belongs a week ago Friday - playing in his yard and on the Kidsport ball diamonds.

"He's very excited but overwhelmed," Amy Lavin said of her typically shy son, who is proud to be advancing to the seventh grade after finishing at Elrod Elementary this spring.

"Being back at school is [wonderful, but] overwhelming. The first day everyone wanted to touch his head," she said.

After initial radiation treatments, he went bald. Flathead Braves football players and local radio personalities showed solidarity by going bald, too. In time, Michael's hair started to grow again. But one last round of radiation during the last week of April brought back the bald.

"He's pretty proud of it," Amy said. School officials "told him he could wear a hat, but he said, 'No, this is who I am and they can get used to it.'"

Michael's in maintenance mode now, taking a hefty ration of oral chemotherapy pills every Monday and following it the rest of the week with more daily chemo pills.

It's been a long haul since Sept. 16 when the rare diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, T-cell, sent the family racing to Seattle for an infusion of platelets.

Amy has been with Michael ever since. Steve, a Montana Highway patrolman, has been fortunate to work with a department that allowed him to be in Seattle about half the time. Cassidy, his 5-year-old sister, has been staying with her cousins, the Kalbfleisch family in Whitefish, much of the time when not visiting Michael.

"Cassidy is happier than you can imagine," Amy said. "She missed her big brother."

Michael's biggest boost this week, his mom said, was seeing his best friend and cousin, 12-year-old Jace Kalbfleisch.

And he's got a brand-new puppy, an 8-month-old shih tzu that he unwittingly named Waffles when his folks asked him at Christmastime what name he would choose if he were to get a dog.

"He always wanted a dog, and we told him he could have one if he earned it," Amy said. "Well, we figure he earned it."

In Kalispell until May 21, Michael has a lot of catching up to do.

The racquetball champ, all-around sports enthusiast and big-time baseball fan wasted no time in getting back his throwing arm. He didn't miss a practice of his Glacier Bank baseball team last week and was the starting pitcher for the game Saturday morning.

He's been back with his buddies in Anne Castren's sixth-grade classroom every day since May 1, staying half days or full days as he is able.

"He says he's not tired," she said. But a mom can tell when her perennially positive son just doesn't want to complain about it.

His first day back was a mini celebration.

"Everything was decorated - his locker, his desk," she said. "They had a cake for him. He said, 'Oh wow, is it somebody's birthday?' He still can't believe it's all for him."

Michael's working hard on his lessons, just as he did throughout his stay in Seattle, thanks to coordinated efforts between Castren and an on-site teacher at the Ronald McDonald House.

"Anne has been awesome, just in supporting him academically and emotionally, always encouraging him," Amy said.

She reported that Michael will be in honors math at Linderman School next year.

As Amy prepared on Friday afternoon to pick up Michael from school and travel to The Bear radio station, where he would thank the community for its phenomenal support - Cassidy promised she would fill in if he got too shy - Amy admitted she was nervous about her son's baseball activity. But she won't stop it.

On May 21, they return to Seattle for a week of in-hospital chemotherapy and another week of observation. They return to Kalispell for four to six weeks of home chemo, then repeat the regimen four times.

The Lavins are focused on getting back to a more typical life at home, just in time for baseball season. And the smile's back in his mom's voice.

"I'm so happy for him," she said.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com