Please Read...for me.
CODY HOFFMAN
Honorary Professional Motocross Champion
Cody Hoffman dreamed of one day becoming a professional motocross champion. He loved the sport, following all the events and reading all the magazines cover to cover. He wore his dirt bike jerseys everywhere he went; he was proud of his number 414 and rode his dirt bike all the time when he felt well enough. He even became a personal friend of Jeremy McGrath, sometimes talking on the telephone.
On October 30, 1999 at the age of 3, Cody was diagnosed with High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He underwent years of intense chemotherapy and completed his treatment in 2002. During a routine monthly checkup, his doctors found that he had relapsed. Cody’s prognosis was minimal at best. He underwent several rounds of total body radiation and then received a bone marrow transplant on New Years Eve 2002.
Only 3 months post transplant, Cody suffered another devastating relapse, making it necessary for him to have major surgery. Then he suffered renal failure and was hospitalized for many weeks.
Cody was doing very well for almost a year and then started losing weight. He was hospitalized and released after a few weeks. Then he was admitted and released once again from the hospital. He was fighting transplant rejection and pneumonia. In July of 2005, Cody suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage and was placed on life support. After a couple of days, it looked as though he would pull through, but sadly, his little body was unable to recover from all the trauma it had been through and on August 18, 2005 Cody passed away. His family and the rest of the world suffered a tremendous loss. Cody was a champion that would never be.
Cody was an amazing child. He had a tremendous heart of mercy, always showing more concern for other children who were sicker than him. He was, by far, the bravest, most courageous, loving child we have ever known.
The JSF Foundation intended to grant Cody his wish. However, he passed away before they were able to do so. Therefore, we are proud to posthumously bestow on him our “JSF Bravest Kid” award by making him an Honorary Professional Motocross Champion.
**Reposted from November 2005 “Racer X” magazine**
This touched me deeply. As many of you know…I had the same thing when I was a kid. I was sent to Disney World by Grant-A-Wish Foundation. I encourage all of you to visit http://www.fulfilladream.org/Pages/Cody_Hoffman.html for pictures of Cody and a little more about his treatment. If you have time…there are many other stories on the site about other kids just as courageous.
I personally have something to offer myself when I go back to Johns Hopkins for follow ups. It never fails that there is ALWAYS at least one set of parents crying by their kids bedside. When I ask how their kid is and they tell me he has leukemia, I relate my story to them. It REALLY helps give them hope to see me stand in front of them…alive and healthy. I honestly believe I have given hope to some who had NO hope. I will never know how any of them turn out…but I always hope they are as lucky as I was.