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When Hunter began chemotherapy at age 14 months, he quit talking for several months. His sense of isolation and frustration was eased by the use of sign language, and his parents’ sense of isolation was relieved by The National Children’s Cancer Society.
Hunter was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia in November 2007, right around the time he was beginning to talk. When he began the first of five rounds of chemotherapy, he quit talking almost immediately and didn’t say a word for two or three months, according to his mother, Lenore.
“The doctors and nurses told us that was somewhat common. He was so ill and sick from the chemo and constantly sleeping,” Lenore says. “He went through a little shock and was just afraid.”
One of Hunter’s therapists suggested trying sign language and gave the family a handout with about 10 pages of the most basic signs. “We began introducing things like hungry, thirsty, please, thank you and more. It was easy and we learned it right along with him,” she says. “After working with him just a little, he began to pick it up.”
Lenore says that prior to trying the sign language, Hunter was getting very frustrated because his needs weren’t being met, and his parents – who were “dancing around like monkeys” trying to figure out what he wanted – were getting frustrated, too.
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“After working with him just a little, he began to pick (the sign language) up,” Lenore says. And
once she experienced some success with him, Lenore and her husband, Zen, got online to learn
some additional signs. “We didn’t feel so isolated from him once we could communicate again,”
she says.
But Lenore and her husband did feel isolated from everyone else – that is until they hooked up
with The National Children’s Cancer Society. “The N.C.C.S. helped us meet other people who
were in similar situations,” she says. “We felt like we had somewhere to turn to get our questions
answered and feel connected to other people.”
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 | The N.C.C.S. also helped the family with transportation costs involved in Hunter’s treatment. “We were grateful to have one less thing to worry about as we tried to help Hunter get better,” Lenore says.
Hunter’s leukemia returned in January 2009, and he completed additional chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in June. Today, he is doing well and Lenore says that as a 3-year-old, he is talking more and more.
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