All-Star Skyler

“I wouldn’t say I was angry or upset, I thought, if not me, then who? I would rather fight this battle for someone else than for them to fight it for me. I do think about how the past few months would have been different though, what I have missed." -All-Star Skyler

15-year-old Skyler lives in Oklahoma with his parents Brian and LaTori. Before November 2023, he was very active at school. He was a part of the basketball and track teams and got straight A’s. He would often help other students with homework when they needed it. He also ran his own photography business.

Skyler started experiencing knee pain. There is a family history of Osgood-Schlatter disease. His older brother went through it, so his family assumed that’s what it was. However, the doctor was concerned that it was more than that. He referred Skyler to get an MRI. That’s when everything changed.

Through the MRI, they discovered that Skyler had a tumor. It was soon biopsied to learn what kind of tumor it was, and soon LaTori and Brian heard the news that their son had osteosarcoma, a type of cancer. 

“We were in shock and had no clue what that was; we had to look it up,” they said.

Skyler didn’t find out until a day later.

“My parents told me. I felt both good and bad. I was very grateful that we caught it early,” Skyler said. 

Skyler stopped going to school right away after his diagnosis. He started 10 weeks of chemo and was admitted to a hospital in Tulsa, about an hour away. The whole family stayed there with him, sleeping on an air mattress, getting take-out food, and driving back and forth when they had to. 

LaTori used to teach elementary school but had transitioned from teaching Kindergarten to becoming an Intervention Specialist a few years prior to Skyler’s diagnosis. She said without knowing it at the time, this was a huge blessing to make space for her to care for Skyler. Brian works in real estate after working for years in the medical field. LaTori’s boss was understanding, and Brian worked flexibly so that they could both be there for their son and one another. 

Finances though, take a toll on all families facing childhood cancer.

“Financially, it’s a burden,” said Brian. “We have been worried about the cost of gas. Our gas costs as a family rocketed from about $50 per week to over $200. It takes a toll on you. Then there’s the cost of food for all of us. Skyler doesn’t eat junk food, which gets extremely expensive. Chemo changed his appetite too. He lost a lot of weight, and the hospital food is mostly unappealing. It is important that he gets good food.”

When the family received an Orange Envelope, they used it for gas to get back and forth.

“Part of that burden was lifted. Now we had money to pay other bills. Pinky Swear was on the list of organizations that our social worker gave us. We are not ashamed to get the help because organizations are there to provide it. That’s what they do,” Brian said.

On February 2, 2024, Skyler had surgery and then later that month, was told that almost 100% of the tumor was now dead and non-cancerous. This meant fewer weeks of additional chemo.

“The way he took it came from his faith,” explained LaTori. “Right before this, Skyler had gotten into gospel music, and when asked to write a report about his hero, he wrote about Jesus. God was preparing him for this, and he took it on a different level from most kids.”

Skyler completed his last round of chemotherapy at the end of July 2024. Now he works to rebuild his strength. 

“It’s difficult. It’s a lot,” Skyler said. “I have no clue when I can do sports again. I have always been very independent and now I have to accept help to take a shower and make food. I think of how my life would be if this hadn’t happened.” 

Skyler uses his positive outlook to motivate him. Often, they would arrive at the clinic hoping to be admitted for chemo, only to be told to go home because Skyler’s counts were too low. Low counts also left him vulnerable to infection, so he was not able to go on vacation or see friends. 

Instead of moping around without his friends, Skyler focused hard on physical therapy and impressed his doctors by being able to jog and jump just a couple of months after he started walking again. He is setting his sights on playing basketball again this winter.

Osteosarcoma is a rare cancer, and his family wants to build awareness by sharing Skyler’s story. When asked about other kids, Skyler said, “Keep your head up, you can do anything with support.”