Carmichaels football players to shave heads, support 10-year-old with cancer
Braedyn Wasko, 10, of Cumberland Township, who was diagnosed last month with bone cancer, wears his Carmichaels football jersey.
Carla Hughes of Cumberland Township and her son, Braedyn Wasko, 10, shown during a Luke Bryan concert in July, one month before Braedyn’s bone cancer diagnosis.
Carla Hughes of Cumberland Township and her son, Braedyn Wasko, 10, pose for a picture during a Luke Bryan concert in July, one month before Braedyn was diagnosed with bone cancer.
Carla Hughes of Cumberland Township stands with her sons, Colby Smith, 20, and Braedyn Wasko, 10, on her wedding day in June 2014. Braedyn was diagnosed last month with bone cancer.
When her 10-year-old son, Braedyn Wasko, got hit in the same spot on his leg with a baseball twice in two days back in April, Carla Hughes just thought it was bad luck.
Now, five months later, she knows how lucky he was.
“A lump formed on his leg,” she said. “We thought it was just swelling from the ball.”
She was wrong.
Braedyn had X-rays done on his leg and, at first, doctors thought it was just a fracture. By July, the lump on his leg had grown to the size of a baseball.
On Aug. 12, three days before Braedyn’s 10th birthday, he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of childhood bone cancer that’s typically found in boys.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “It was harder to tell him and explain to him that he had it, because when kids think cancer, they immediately think death.”
Hughes, of Cumberland Township, said her son already had bone cancer when he was hit with the baseball, but because he was hit, “that’s where the tumor started growing.”
“We got lucky that he got hit,” she said. “We could’ve gone years without knowing because there aren’t really any symptoms.”
Braedyn’s is the same type of cancer that killed 19-year-old Luke Blanock, a Canon-McMillan High School athlete who died Aug. 7 after the cancer spread to several areas of his body.
Doctors have told Hughes the cancer is only in the tumor on Braedyn’s leg and hasn’t spread anywhere else.
“His doctor does expect Braedyn’s prognosis to be good,” Hughes said. “He does expect him to come through this.”
Braedyn is a Steelers fan who loves to play football, baseball and Minecraft.
“One of the nurses asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up,, and he said, ‘I have no idea, I’m only 10 years old,'” Hughes said. “He’s a funny little kid. He’s sarcastic, he loves to help cook and, if you need something done, he’s the one to go to, and he’ll always help out.”
Hughes said one of the biggest worries for Braedyn is losing his hair.
“He just started losing it about three days ago, and he wanted it to go out in style, so he got his hair cut with a cancer ribbon design and a mohawk,” she said.
Braedyn’s fear of losing his hair is what triggered support from the Carmichaels Area High School football team.
Ryan Krull, Carmichaels football coach, heard about Braedyn’s illness from Braedyn’s older brother, Colby Smith, 20, who played for the football team when he was in high school a few years ago.
“My first thought was ‘How can a 10-year-old boy have cancer?'” he said. “This kid is supposed to be worrying about what he’s doing with his friends on the weekends, not worrying about losing his hair from cancer.”
Krull decided to organize a fundraising pep rally for Braedyn on the Carmichaels football field about 10 a.m. Sept. 30, when members of the high school football team, coaches and some faculty members will have their heads shaved.
“If he’s worried about losing his hair and he looks up to our football players, then maybe that’s something we can do to show solidarity and support and put his mind at ease about losing his hair,” Krull said.
When he mentioned the idea to the team, Krull said they were happy to help out.
“At that age, everybody’s worried about appearance, and this was a mature decision by them,” he said. “If it helps Braedyn get through some tough days, then it’s worth it.”
Hughes said she was surprised and thankful for the support from the district and the team. She said any money raised will be appreciated, too. Hughes also organized a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for Braedyn, which will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 11 at Hugo’s Restaurant in Brownsville.
Hughes, who is a caseworker for the Salvation Army in Uniontown, said she has sick time available but will eventually need to go on medical leave to care for Braedyn.
“We’re managing, but it’s going to get harder,” she said. “We’re just in the beginning stages of this.”
Three weeks out of the month they are at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for his treatment, and the travel and other expenses add up, she said.
Braedyn started chemotherapy two weeks ago and is responding well to treatment, his mother said. When he started chemo, he couldn’t walk on his leg because of how painful it was. Only two days of treatment later, he was able to walk again because the tumor already started to shrink.
“He’s tough, and he has a very good sense of humor and he keeps his spirits high,” Hughes said. “He jokes around with nurses, and he’s very easygoing.”
In about three months, he’ll have surgery to remove the tumor, then at least six more months of chemo after that.
“We have a long road ahead of us, but as long as Braedyn is doing well, that’s all that matters,” she said.