Young Couple Face Son’s Illness With Hope

SIMI VALLEY —  Little Joshua Hauke has spent most of his short life fighting for survival.

The 3-year-old Simi Valley boy has been in and out of hospitals since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 1993.

Joshua has had to endure more than a year of chemotherapy and 10 operations that have left him with nerve damage and hooked up to a feeding tube, but still doctors have been unable to eliminate the cancer that has attached itself to his brain.

Now his young parents hope that an experimental drug treatment will save Joshua’s life.

In April, Joshua will be flown to Memphis, Tenn., for a series of intensive treatments that will last over a year.

Until then, the boy is at home with his parents--Chad and Tammy--his year-old sister, Kailey, his dog, Tyson, and his favorite stuffed toy: Elmo from Sesame Street.

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The family has set up a trust fund to help pay for Joshua’s care, but more than money, his parents said they hope that someone who hears Joshua’s story might have other ideas to help treat their son.

Still a playful toddler, the illness and treatments have nonetheless taken their toll on Joshua.

In the successive attempts to cut away the once golf-ball-sized brain tumor, the Haukes say that doctors have nicked Joshua’s brain stem causing nerve damage that has left him with crossed eyes, blurred vision and difficulty walking.

Because the nerve damage has also affected the muscles around his mouth, Joshua now has trouble saying some words, and he can’t move his lips into a smile, although he tries.

The treatments and dashed hopes have been excruciating for Chad, who is 27, and Tammy, who is 24.

When Joshua first became ill, bewildered doctors thought he had been abused by his parents and began action to remove him from their custody.

Later, Joshua was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where doctors discovered the tumor. The allegations of child abuse were then dropped. In December 1993, doctors operated to remove the tumor, and a month later they started a nine-month long chemotherapy.

But after each treatment the tumor returned and the parents have had to resort to other treatments.

It all became too much for Chad, who left his job as a maintenance man several months ago because of the stress.

“I think there’s a stress threshold that I just went over,” he said. “I began to wonder if anything would work.”

But Chad said his son’s courage has helped him endure.

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“He’s really tough,” Chad said one day this week while watching his son play with a puzzle on the family’s living room couch. “He’s a veteran.”

In April, the experimental chemotherapy treatments will begin, and Tammy is trying to figure out how she and her husband will deal with commuting to Memphis.

As part of the treatment, the experimental drug Topotecan will be given to Joshua intravenously for three days at a time, followed by three weeks of rest at home.

Tammy Hauke said she is trying to be hopeful.

“We don’t know what’s going to come for it,” she said. “There are never any guarantees.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FYI

For information or any ideas for treatment, call Joshua’s grandmothers Jessie Schlink at 582-1336 or Jo Hauke-Bridges at 527-9416. The address for the Hope for Joshua trust fund is C/O 1409 Kuehner Drive, No. 113, Simi Valley, CA 93063.