Defying the odds, for two local seniors graduation is ‘essential’ – The People’s Defender

Despite being given only six months to live at birth, Zachary Crawford defied those odds and is a 2020 graduate of North Adams High School. (Provided photo) Graduating from Manchester High School in 2020, Douglas Harper has overcome childhood cancer to become a business owner. (Provided photo)

By Mark Carpenter-

For the senior class of 2020, the last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. Preparing for some of the most memorable weeks of their lives as their high school careers wound down, those seniors are now realizing that those special moments may never happen as the COVID-19 pandemic has put the end of the 2019-20 school year to an end as far as any in-person instruction. Graduation from high school is a big moment in everyones life but for two special Adams County seniors, this years graduation may have meant just a little bit more. For Zachary Crawford, who was set to graduate from North Adams, and for Douglas Harper, set to gradate from Manchester, the path to graduation has not been an easy one. In fact, it was path that many doctors never expected either of them to take. For Zachary, the journey began on Oct. 18, 2000 when his mother Brandys water broke 7 1/2 week early and she suffered a utero stroke, making Zacharys birth dangerous. After the doctors decided to take him, he was born in an emergency c-section but pronounced dead. His lifeless body was given to his father Rodney to hold , but Zachary ended up gasping for air while in his fathers arms and the doctors then detected a faint heartbeat. Zachary was rushed straight to NICU, with an estimated birth weight of around two pounds. We were not expecting to go down this road but it was happening, said Brandy Crawford. We were told right away that Zachary had very little brain activity and we were devastated. But I just didnt want to believe that God gave us our baby back after 15 minutes of death to not let him have a purpose. We were told he had cerebral palsy and that he wouldnt live to be six months old because he was so critical so they sent him home a week before Christmas with a feeding tube, basically to die, but I wasnt going to accept that diagnosis. The Crawfords did a lot of praying and researching, learning how to take care of a disabled child, who joined them at home with a five-year old and a sister only nine months and two days older. There are no words to describe how you feel when youre bringing home a child with special needs, said Brandy. You just have to learn a routine and stick with it. We were lucky to have a lot of amazing people around us but being told your child would only live six months and if he passed that he would just be a vegetable is the hardest thing in the world to hear. Our goal was to get him past six months and I worked with him every day, reading him stories and trying to teach him sounds, but it just wasnt happening. He was awake and alert and a happy baby but he still had a feeding tube and we tried to hold out hope. For the Crawfords, Zacharys progress came in intervals, get past that first six months, then a year,then two years, just taking it one year at a time. Zachary continued to amaze and survive and before they knew it, Rodney and Brandy had a child in Head Start, then preschool, then kindergarten, then elementary, then junior high, and now a 2020 high school graduate. Zachary had an aide his first nine years of school, Melissa Michael, and she was incredible, said Brandy. She took care of Zachary, worked with him, and was so patient. She kept us informed all the time about his progress, but eventually we had to move him to home instruction, where he had an amazing home instruction teacher, Angel McIlwain and she has been with him for along time. Zach has worked so hard in his life to overcome every obstacle put in front of him. They told us he wouldnt do so many things and yet hes overcome all of that and done every single thing, and we could not wait to see him walk across that stage and get his high school diploma. Douglas Harper was born on Aug. 3, 2001 and according to his mother Mary, was a perfectly normal, adorable baby. In the months after his birth, Douglas had numerous ear infections, which no one considered serious, but when he reached the age of one, his mother began to notice small things. I noticed he was toddling around furniture but wasnt walking independently, said Mary Harper. You could tell he wanted to, but he just kept falling. We just thought it would come to him in time. In a later pediatricians appointment when Douglas just didnt seem to be feeling right, the doctors measured his head circumference and informed his mother that it had increased two centimeters in two months. I really wasnt worried, says Mary, our older daughter had the exact same thing happen when she was one year old. A CT scan was done on Douglass head and thats when things began to get scary for the Harpers. I saw the pediatrician standing in the doorway but what really alarmed me was who was standing beside himthe hospital chaplain, said Mary. I stood up and just told him to tell me the truth and he kept trying to get me to sit down. He told me that a transport from Columbus Childrens Hospital was on the way. Douglas had a very large brain tumor in the back of his head and it was so large that it had pressed up against the brain stem so much that the brain stem couldnt even be seen on the scans. The hospital staff was crying, I looked around and knew I had to keep it together. I had researched the leading Pediatric Neurosurgeons in the country and knew it was Dr. Chrone in Cincinnati, so we were headed to Cincinnati Childrens Hospital. After I finally tracked down my husband Brent (before the days of cell phones), we arrived at Childrens and it was like something you see in the movies. There was a team literally waiting on us and they immediately began prepping Douglas for and emergency MRI to map his brain for surgery. It then dawned on me that they were going to take a saw and cut into my babys brain. My husband finally arrived and I just couldnt bear to look at him, I didnt want to see the pain in his face. That night, I just held Douglas, trying to memorize every inch of him. The Harpers were told of all the possibilities- possibly not malignant, possibly malignant, severe brain damage, good chance of dying during surgery, if he survives he may never have a functioning life. Over 30 friend and family joined the Harpers in the waiting room for the surgery, bu Mary was only focused on what was going on in the operating room. I remember conversation going on around me and it just irritated me, Mary said. How could they talk about anything else but what was going on in the operating room? I kept thinking about them taking a knife to Douglass head and I would run to the bathroom and vomit each time. Every two hours wed get a phone call from the operating room with updates. About 10 hours after the surgery began, one of the surgeons met with the Harpers and explained what had happened and asked how many family members were on hand to say their goodbyes. The doctors didnt expect Douglas to survive, but a receptionist in ICU told Mary something she has never forgotten. Momma, these doctors dont know anything, the receptionist told Mary. God is in control. I see miracles walk out of here every day. When we finally got to see Douglas, he looked perfect and not one person said goodbye. The Harpers spent the next seven weeks and one day at the hospital, being told that their son had a 30% chance of leaving the hospital and a 5% chance of living four more years. They were told that Douglas would be mentally handicapped and maybe totally non-functioning, to never eat on his own. He had Medulloblastoma, a malignant aggressive cancer. For weeks, Douglas went through chemotherapy treatments that would be tough on the average adult, much less a one-year old child. For the next two years, Douglas went through four rounds of chemo and eight weeks of radiation. He also had a shunt placed in his head, one that he still has today. By the end of chemotherapy, Douglas was learning to crawl again, pulling his little chemo pump behind him. Those were the hardest years of our lives, said Mary. But there are time that I miss those days. I miss being so close to God. Through every heartache and fear, I felt like God was right beside us. It was about eight years after finishing treatment before we heard one doctor say his name in the same sentence as the word remission. To this day, they still dont consider him cured. He goes yearly for an MRI, but we follow up in the Long Term Cancer Survivors Unit. It has been 18 years since he was diagnosed. Ive quit watching his every move to see a sign than the cancer was back. We have had some scares along the way but each year has gotten easier and we worry a little less as time passes. Now, Douglas in an active citizen, a high school graduate, and a business owner, as he opens his own produce stand in front of his mothers business, the West Union Flower Shop. He also has plans to go to school to become a barber, as he loves the atmosphere of the local barber shop. After all of the obstacles that Zachary and Douglas have overcome to get to this point, the cancellation of a normal graduation ceremony and other senior activities are just another bump in the road, but still upsetting to both young men in their own way. Losing most of the special things of his senior year has been devastating to Zachary, said Brandy Crawford. Not only to him, but to his whole family. There have been a lot of tears shed in this house and a lot of questions asked. Zachary often asks me if the situation is going to change and to tell him no just rips us apart. Everything has stopped due to this horrible virus. Graduation ceremony or not, Zachary is still excited and proud, but to know that everything in his little world came to a complete stop has been really hard on him as it has on everyone. Like Douglas, Zachary also is a working man, with a job as a maintenance and custodial helper at Columbus Industries, working with his father. He is such a loving young man that would do anything for anybody and hes so appreciative of anything, said his mother. We just dont know what his future holds right now According to his mother, Douglas was upset that he wont get to be part of the pomp and circumstance of graduation ceremonies, but perhaps more upset about the cancellation of prom, since he had already given a Promposal to his girlfriend. I know the circumstances cant be helped but I feel kind of like our entire family is being cheated of seeing him graduate, said Mary. Graduation to this momma has been one of those days I have dreamed about. It was going to be a day when we could say, look what God can do.

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Defying the odds, for two local seniors graduation is 'essential' - The People's Defender