When doctors told Nick Rutledge in October that he had a clean bill of health, he couldn’t really process the information.
The 14-year-old, an avid hockey and field hockey player, had been fighting an aggressive form of sinus cancer for a full year. And now it was … gone?
“I couldn’t really believe them,” Nick says. “It was a little weird because everything we’d been doing for the past year just stopped.”
His mom Sue Rutledge backs up the story.
“We sat in shock. We were pretty quiet,” she says. “You deal with this day in, day out – the ups and downs of the fevers, racing to the hospital in the middle of the night and everything else that went on. … Privately we rejoiced, but you’re almost afraid, waiting for them to go ‘Oh, sorry. Made a mistake.’”
The rejoicing may have been a bit muted at that initial meeting but it hit a high note one month later when they got physical proof that healthy days were on the way. When he was first diagnosed, Nick had a port inserted in his chest and it remained there for the past year to be used for treatments.
“I hated the port,” he says. “It’s where the chemo goes in. It’s uncomfortable. It’s like a needle in your back or something – it’s just annoying.”
In November, doctors put him under and removed Nick’s port. He awoke to a moment of joy.
“It sure felt good to roll onto my belly and not feel anything,” he says.
The North Shore News first wrote about Nick’s battle back in May. It was a heartbreaking story, not just because of the fact that a boy was in the fight of his life, but also because of his heritage. Nick’s father, Ross Rutledge, was a player for the national field hockey team before becoming a popular and influential coach with the West Vancouver Field Hockey Club. Ross died of cancer when Nick was just two years old – Rutledge Field in Ambleside Park is named in his honour.
When Nick was afflicted by the same disease, it hit his family hard – including his stepdad Bruce Douglas and brothers and stepbrothers Connor, Fin and Oli, all age 17; Eliot, 13; and Felix, 11 – as well as his extended families at WVFHC and the North Shore Winter Club.
There were many low moments along the way, including a stretch of 33 straight days of radiation treatment in January and February.
“They molded a mask to his face and bolted his head down to a table and locked him in a room and radiated him,” says Sue. The treatments dropped Nick from 120 pounds to 88, shredding his face and throat to the point that he couldn’t talk or even open his mouth. Asked about those hard times, however, the first thing Nick wants to talk about is the people who were at the hospital helping him get through the treatments.
“The people there were golden,” he says. “They made the day way better.”
That attitude comes as no surprise to those who know Nick. His motto through his illness was “kick cancer’s ass,” and it’s a motto he started living long before he was ever diagnosed. Prior to his illness Nick was an avid fundraiser for cancer charities and once grew out his hair to make a wig for his stepmother who was also hit by cancer.
When he got sick himself, Nick encouraged friends and teammates who wanted to support him to donate money to the Children’s Wish Foundation, the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation’s children’s oncology unit and the B.C. Childhood Cancer Parents Association, which financially assists families in B.C. who have children diagnosed with cancer. More than $15,000 has been raised by the Winter Club and WVFHC in Nick’s honour, with a team of riders joining Sue in the Ride to Conquer Cancer to raise even more funds. Nick has vowed to join the race when he meets the minimum age requirement of 16.
For a family that’s had way more than their fair share of bad luck, the past couple of months have been amazing.
“Unbelievable. A lot of tears,” Sue says. “There’s a lot of people to say thank you to, a lot of friends and family in West Van Field Hockey, North Shore Winter Club. So many high school friends of mine from the North Shore that I hadn’t seen in 20 years who were suddenly cooking meals for us. … He had people from all over the world cheering him on.”
Nick was back at Handsworth secondary for the start of his Grade 9 year after missing nearly all of Grade 8, and is quickly ramping up his physical activities. He’s not yet ready for contact hockey but has played pickup games with his brothers and friends while also getting back on his mountain bike and hitting the ski slopes. On a scale of 1-10, Nick said that he’s at “about an 11” now that he can be active again. “Just knowing that I can do something that normal kids can do – it’s been fun.”
The family knows that cancer is a lifelong battle – Nick has another big round of tests coming up in early January – but they’ve got something else to look forward to thanks to the Children’s Wish Foundation. Nick’s wish of taking a trip to a tropical beach has been granted – now all they need to do is decide what beach.
“Any beach would suffice,” he says with a laugh, as long as it’s hot and he can eat burgers and fries. Nick now knows through his own experience that the Wish Foundation – one of his favourite fundraising targets – is actually an incredible source of motivation for those who need it.
“Thinking about your wish every day – when you’re down, something like that comes into your mind and you completely change,” he says.
Meanwhile, Sue credits one more thing with helping Nick knock out cancer.
“He’s got a bit of a stubborn streak,” she says, “which he gets from his dad.”
