By following the stories of Tim, Alex, Justin, Al and Jen, A
LION IN THE HOUSE reveals the ways that pediatric
cancer affects entire families, demanding courage and sacrifice
from everyone involved. From financial hardships to emotional
stress and professional losses, each parent, grandparent and
sibling encounters challenges that would be insurmountable
were it not for the inspiring resilience, humor, wit and wisdom
of the most deeply affected of all the family members––the
young Lions themselves.
| |
| “You do what you have to do. You can either
ignore it and go about your life’s business, or you
can get in the middle of it. I chose to get in the middle
of it, and I would do it again.” |
—Dale Ashcraft |
The extended Ashcraft family live in and around Florence, Kentucky,
just south of Cincinnati. Justin Ashcraft was just nine years old
when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He has been fighting his leukemia
for ten years, longer than almost any other kid in the country,
and recently graduated from high school. Now Justin’s leukemia
has relapsed again and the only treatments left open to him are
highly experimental. Once again he and his divorced parents, Debbie
and Dale, face a difficult decision. Justin’s entire adolescence
has been marred by his continuing illness and relentless treatments.
His sister Jennifer donated bone marrow to him. Justin’s
brother Adam struggles with depression he feels was brought on
by Justin’s long battle with cancer, as well as with feelings
about Justin’s care that conflict with his parents’. Through it all, Justin's attitude is deeply optimistic, tough and resilient.
| “I really don’t dwell on things. I
just like to push ahead.” |
—Justin Ashcraft |
|
Justin Ashcraft |
| “A whole hallway full of sick kids… I
cried every night for all of ‘em. Not just for mine.
I cried for all of ‘em.” |
—Regina
Fields |
Al Fields is a clever boy who has just received life-saving radiation
treatment for a tumor that was at first misdiagnosed as asthma
and then discovered to be non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His mother,
Regina, is a single mom who never leaves his side. They live in
the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati. Regina draws on all
her emotional resources to keep her mercurial son on track, using
humor, sympathy and tough love to sustain him. She is helped by
her mother, Jeannette, and her sisters and brothers.
| “The only thing that was so hard to me is
that I had to learn [to not] worry about what other people
think because even though I look different, I know I wasn’t
different. I was the same old person.” |
––Al
Fields |
|
Al Fields |
| “At Christmas time they told us that she
would not live ‘til the end of the year and we should
go make funeral arrangements, so we did. I did. They didn’t
tell my husband and I didn’t tell him either.” |
—Judy Lougheed |
Alexandra Lougheed is seven years old,
with a younger sister, Jackie and an older sister, Brittany. She
goes by Alex. Bright-eyed, brave and playfully irreverent, Alex
is the daughter of comfortably middle-class parents, Scott and
Judy. They live north of Cincinnati. Alex, who loves to sing, has enjoyed six good months after two years of treatment. But she relapsed again and began receiving hospice care. The family met Dr. Paul Jubinsky, who proposed to them one more experimental treatment for Alex. The family said yes, Alex began taking the drug, and she immediately responded well. Three months later, Alex was in remission, and back in school.
| “I wasn’t used to seeing her without
any hair… Sometimes it would be so sad because it’s
like, why did it happen to Alex? But it’s just things
that happen.” |
—Alex’s
classmate |
|
Judy and Jackie Lougheed |
| “When the doctor originally diagnosed [Jen],
there was no question that I was not going to be working
for a while… and in about a month I wouldn’t
have a paycheck…. I’ll go to Starbucks and
see women that are dressed up in suits and I think, ‘Gosh,
that used to be me.’” |
—Beth Moone |
Jen Moone is an athletic and determined daughter of professional
parents, Frank and Beth, and she is just beginning a two-year treatment
regimen for leukemia. The Moones live in Mariemont, just outside
of Cincinnati. Beth quit her job as an investigator in the U.S.
Attorney General’s office to care full-time for Jen as she
begins chemo to battle her leukemia. No longer a career woman,
Beth feels her identity radically changed by her new role. As Frank
takes on the role of the family’s sole breadwinner, Jen
and her mom learn to navigate the medical routine together, with
weekly chemo, daily cleaning of her c-line and painful blood tests
requiring all of Jen’s courage.
| “It hurts. You have to curl up and then they
put a needle in your back, so then they can take your blood.” |
—Jen Moone |
|
Jen center, with mom Beth and sister Natalie |
| “They finally said, ‘It looks like
Hodgkin’s lymphoma,’ and I said, “What
in the world is that?’” |
—Marietha Woods |
Tim Woods is a gentle but rebellious teen being raised by his
single, working-class mother, Marietha, in Cincinnati, Ohio. At
first, Tim enjoys the special attention his disease brings him,
though he resists the discipline of the treatment, throwing his
medicine away and cheating on the scale when his weight doesn’t
measure up. Non-compliant, Tim presents special challenges to his
doctors as they try to manage his Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Marietha,
who worked before Tim got sick, is now living on welfare
and must spend money she can’t afford on cab fares to visit
Tim in the hospital.
| “You know what I’m saying––you
shouldn’t treat people like they less than you just
cause you got money and they don’t. Everybody is
created to be equal. Nobody is different. Nobody in this
world is different.” |
—Tim Woods |
|
Tim and Marietha Woods |
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The Families
