Milford Seniors overcome the unthinkable

High school is a difficult transition to begin with. Students are faced with longer days, harder classes, and trying to meet high expectations along the way. On a daily basis, students already struggle to balance the bare minimum between high academic standards, their after school activities,  maintaining a part time job, and keeping up with their social lives.

As adolescent years are already difficult, many students face equal hardships, but some have it harder than others. Two students in the class of ‘21 have faced the hardest times of their lives, as they have both battled the dreaded word: cancer. Senior Nathan Herron, always known for his smiling face and friendly attitude, says, “I was diagnosed April 26th of 2016; I was only 13 years old. I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, which doesn’t have a stage because it is a bone marrow/blood cancer.”

Herron said he first realized something was off when he started to get extremely tired all the time, and had about two months of body aching and fatigue, which wasn’t like him at all. His friends and family began to see something wasn’t right when he would go home and sleep until the next day and not get any of his homework done. “It got bad,” said Herron.

“One morning, I almost passed out, and had a bloody nose, so we went to see a blood specialist at Beaumont in Royal Oak; luckily we actually had an appointment that day. I was getting ready to go there when I almost passed out, everything went black, and I had blood dripping from my nose” Herron continued. Herron recalls as everything was a blur. “When I received the news I remember feeling confused, maybe I didn’t know what was happening… I remember being up in the room throughout the whole day and all of that night.” He continued with, “It was all so overwhelming. My family has a history of all different types of cancers, so I guess I wasn’t shocked when I found out.”

Even with the news of his diagnosis, Herron remained positive as he knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. “My mindset stayed the same for the most part– I just went day-by-day. The only obstacles I faced were self induced.” Herron added, “I decided that it was worth putting myself into a clinical trial for a cancer treatment in hopes that it would help find a more efficient way of battling cancer; the trial continuously failed, but not until after I went through it.” Even at his lowest, Herron stayed humble and continued to show his selflessness to others around him, even by taking the unsure clinical trial. The journey Herron faced was not easy, and made many everyday tasks a bit more difficult including the basics of school. Herron was always known for his smile and positive attitude alongside his classmates.

“Nathan is an incredible student and an even better person,” Teacher Rob Hamilton said. “His optimistic attitude and strong work ethic shine through and one would never even know the battle he has had to face within.”

Herron started his treatment shortly after his diagnosis, where he moved from the exam room straight up to his hospital room, where he was located for weeks before being able to go home again. “My small dosage of Methotrexate Chemo turned into a 24-hour IV drip of 5000 ml of gross, orange chemo.”

Herron continued, “The rest of my treatment is a blur. I guess that’s a curse and a blessing from the trial of chemo. I had an allergic reaction that I remember, but there are stories that I’m told that I can’t remember and that carries into today; I always forget everything, even if it was just five minutes ago.” Aside from Herron’s years of intense treatment, he also went through the recovery process.

Herron said, “My recovery process started after the week-long visits to the doctors; I was in remission after the failure of the trial. I took pills everyday, morning and night, that ranged from chemo, to antibiotics, to steroids. I took daily medication for nausea and anxiety during that too, so the total amount of pills per day were ranging from 12-15.”

He continued with, “I had twice a month check ups at doctors where I would give blood and get lab results back to make sure the cells weren’t cancerous. That changed to once a month and now once every two months. Starting in August this year I will be going once every six months for blood work, and then once a year until the day I die.”

Unfortunately, Herron wasn’t the only MHS senior fighting this fight.

Senior Bashir Bamieh is facing a similar battle; Bamieh was diagnosed this summer, on Aug. 13 of 2020, with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Bamieh said he found out because “I was having symptoms similar to the flu, and I also had a lump on my neck that was about the size of a golf ball.” Bamieh went to get blood work done, and they saw that something wasn’t right, so he proceeded to get a CT scan, which showed he had cancer. He continued, “When I got the news I was in shock and didn’t know what to think about it. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma isn’t a genetic disease, so I basically got unlucky.”

Bamieh went through about four months of intense chemo. His mindset through his treatment was a bit different than Herron’s though. He said, “I was basically just counting down the days till I was done; it was rough, but I just tried not to think about it. An obstacle I faced everyday was waking up in the morning for chemo, because I had no motivation to get out of bed.”

Even through the turmoil Bamieh faced, his friends and family were there through it all to support him, such as his friend and fellow senior Adam Treder.

“He is a pretty funny guy, and uses his humor in a way to cover up; he wasn’t feeling too bad most of the time, and when he was, he hid it with humor to keep us all unworried and sane,” Treder said.

Even with all the hardships both Herron and Bamieh faced, it didn’t stop them from pursuing their education and their dreams. Herron is on his way to Grand Valley State University to study criminal justice, and Bamieh is headed to Michigan State University in the fall to pursue a degree in engineering.

Herron added, “It’s officially been five years since my diagnosis and will be two years in August that I’ve been off of treatment. “

Bamieh is also in remission, alongside his fellow classmate, Herron. “If I could say anything to people who are going through it, just don’t give up,” Bamieh stated. “There are going to be days where you don’t want to move, where you think about some pretty messed up things, but if you just continue to push through, things will get so much better.”