Cancer free for six years, 'miracle' water boy beats the odds
BAY CITY, MI — Following an incomplete pass in Bay City Central High School's first football game of the season, head coach Morley Fraser called a timeout to regroup his team.
As soon as the whistle blew, the team's water boy, a 4-foot tall 8-year-old, sprinted to the huddle of towering players to hand out water bottles.
Ian Anderson has been a football fan his whole life. His love of the game comes from his parents Gina and Dan Anderson, who have taken him to Michigan State University and Bay City Central games since he was a young boy. So, when the opportunity came up this year to be the team's water boy, he jumped on it.
"It's great having him," Fraser said. "He takes the job very seriously. He's 100 percent focused on the sideline."
Ian has needed that laser focus his entire life. He isn't like any other 8-year-old boy who might serve as the team's honorary water boy for any given season.
His story is different. It's one of incredible struggle and heartstring-tugging recovery.
And it's again being celebrated. Today, Nov. 8, Ian has been cancer free for six years, proving doctors wrong and continually beating the odds.
"Our miracle has surpassed their predictions," his mom said.
It was supposed to be a celebration
More than seven years ago, Gina Anderson's family gathered in her kitchen to honor Mother's Day, but there was something off about her then 1-year-old son Ian. The Bay City boy wasn't moving. He wasn't looking at her. His bubbly personality had disappeared.
Something was wrong.
They took Ian to the hospital where he was initially diagnosed with constipation. Gina Anderson knew there was more to the diagnosis, though. A doctor later discovered a large mass — an Ependymoma pediatric tumor — on his brain.
"You never want anything bad to happen to your children," Gina Anderson said. "You want to see them prosper and grow to be thriving adults."
The young boy was transported to Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor for an emergency surgery. Doctors warned Ian's family that his life after the procedure likely wouldn't be same. Chances were high of him becoming wheelchair-bound with suction.
Following the procedure, he underwent 17 months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation.
He was strong. He was resilient. And he never gave up.
On Nov. 8, 2011, Ian had his final treatment. Doctors told him he was cancer free.
Six years after his diagnosis, he is a normal 8-year-old again.
Today, he still has a yearly MRI during the summer. He appears to be growing normally, his mother said.
There is a chance a secondary type of cancer could form in the future, his mother said. "The chemotherapy and radiation could possibly create another tumor in the lining of the brain," she said.
"So we're hoping that never happens. Our goal is to get to 18 and then he'll have grown out of this type of cancer."
After 18, Ian can go on to have MRI's every 5 years.
Ian Anderson was diagnosed with cancer at 1 years old. Anderson underwent 17 months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation.Gavin McIntyre | MLive.com
Life today
Throughout the surgeries and treatment, his family has remained positive.
Ian, his mother, Gina, father, Dan, sister Greer, 10, and brother Easton, 13, celebrate "Yes Days," derived from a motivational book.
It's a moment where they can spend time outside with each other, instead of in a hospital room.
Ice cream for breakfast? Yes.
Pajamas all day? Of course.
Take a roll down the hill at Veterans Memorial Park? Absolutely.
"He has no bad days and when I think I'm going to have a bad day I look at him," his mother said. "He inspires us and makes us laugh."
Ian is a third grade student at Kolb Elementary, where is mom also works as a teacher. His favorite subject is math.
"I got skills," he says.
But he doesn't see a future in crunching numbers. He wants to be in the locker room working with a sports team.
Ian Anderson was diagnosed with cancer at 1 years old. Anderson underwent 17 months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation.Gavin McIntyre | MLive.com
Sports
Ian has been a regular at Michigan State University hockey games as an honorary member of the Spartan team. He assists MSU athletic trainer Dave Carrier in getting the players ready for practice and games. Ian hopes to pursue a similar career.
His love for MSU has been well documented while he has fought cancer 65 miles southeast in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Employees at the children's hospital there said Ian always had the same greeting as he was wheeled out of radiation therapy appointments. It started with a fist-bump and ended with a, "Go State!"
He proudly sports his green and white at each medical appointment, reminding U-M doctors which team he roots for on the football field.
Read: A little victor with Spartan devotion
"He just has such great enthusiasm for life and, of course, for Michigan State," said Karin Muraszko, M.D., chair of the U-M Medical School's Department of Neurosurgery.
"He was always very honest with us about how much he loves the Spartans. But we are all on one team, and that team is taking care of Ian."
His mom hesitated when describing Ian's life after cancer.
"Actually, this is life beyond cancer," she said. "We're beyond it now."
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