Houston Hawk takes flight

HOUSTON — Cody Dennis, 14, died in Washington at around midnight, Monday after a 10-month fight against a form of bone cancer.

His parents Misty and Brian Dennis said their family is planning a memorial service in Washington where they’ve been receiving medical care since December 2010 when Cody was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. No information about local services is available at this time.

“We’re planning a memorial here in Washington and then we’ll do a celebration of life for him when we get back to Alaska,” Misty said.

The initial onset came after Cody attended a friend’s birthday party and came home complaining of pain in his leg.

Misty said when she asked him how he hurt his leg, he said all he was doing was stomping in puddles, so she thought it was the kind of mild injury that would mend itself. But during basketball practice, later she said she could see her Cody was in a lot of pain and was limping down the court.

At the doctor’s office Misty and Brian Dennis were shocked when the doctor looked at the X-ray and asked how Cody had broken his tibia. The doctor said the tibia, the bone below the knee, and the femur, the thigh bone, are the largest bones in the human body and aren’t the sort of breaks that go unnoticed.

At first, the doctor and the Dennis family thought a growth spurt had caused his bones to thin and break, Misty said.

“We thought he was getting better,” she said in a July interview. “What we didn’t know is all along this was the tumor.”

Doctors discovered the tumor Dec. 10, 2010, when they did another X-ray. They confirmed the diagnosis during a follow up MRI that night at the Alaska Native Medical Center.

Before heading to the hospital, doctors had told the family they should pack and be ready to fly to Seattle Children’s Hospital for treatment if the diagnosis was cancer. The diagnosis was confirmed as cancer the following Monday, and the family flew to Seattle that same day, Dec. 13, 2010.

At first the plan was to remove the tumor below the knee, knock down the cancer with chemo and then do a second surgery to remove two nodules from Cody’s lungs.

But Cody’s cancer didn’t respond to any of the variety of chemo and natural treatments the family tried, Misty said.

“Nothing’s worked the whole time we’ve been here,” Misty said Monday by phone from Washington.

Shortly before he died Oct. 10, she posted this note to her Facebook page, “It’s been a long painful day. We’ve had Cody’s home care nurse here almost all day and Cody is now on IV morphine and Ativan to keep him at a constant comfort level,” Misty wrote. “We are continuing to pray for Cody to go peacefully and not fight to stay. His will is strong and we want him so badly to be at peace and with God. Please continue to pray for Cody.”

Ever a Hawk, Misty said her son fought hard to the very end.

“His body was working really hard to keep breathing,” she said. “It was hard to watch. It just seemed like he wouldn’t let go. That he wanted to stay.”

People may leave messages for the Dennis family online at caringbridge.org/visit/codydennis.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.