GREENFIELD — A recurring case of cellulitis was the first sign that tipped off a Greenfield mother that something might not be right with her 7-year-old son.
On Jan. 7, more than a month after his first hospital visit, Mary Conway said, her son Dimitri was diagnosed with B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The good news? The cancer was caught early and is already in remission after two months of treatment, but the family will have to take frequent trips to Boston for continued care over the next three years.
“We were in the hospital at the end of November and then back at the end of December for cellulitis,” Mary Conway said. “It kept on showing infections and it was coming out through his eye, and the doctors didn’t know what was going on, so they did imaging on him and that’s when they found the tumors (throughout his liver and kidneys) and the leukemia.”
Dimitri spent two months at Boston Children’s Hospital during the induction stage of treatment, during which he received chemotherapy. Now, his mother says they will have to travel to Boston’s Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic twice a week for more chemotherapy treatments over the next three weeks.
Conway said her son is on a three-year plan, and doesn’t know how that schedule will change over time.
“We just take it one part at a time,” she said. “He is in remission, it’s not coming back in any of his procedures that he’s been having, and it’s not in his blood.”
Dimitri’s grandmother, Simone Wells, has planned a spaghetti dinner fundraiser March 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. at St. Kaz’s in Turners Falls to help the family with related expenses. Tickets are $10 for adults and children under 7 eat for free. The event will also feature door prizes and raffles throughout the night. Call 413-863-5426 or 413-834-0570.
Wells said she has been going to local businesses over the past three weeks to ask for donations, and has received 83 raffle prizes so far. Those will be split between the spaghetti dinner and a golf tournament benefit planned at Thomas Memorial Golf Club this summer.
“People have just been incredible as far as their donations,” she said. “I’m really, really pleased. I was actually shocked.”
She said she’s sold between 50 and 60 of the 250 available tickets so far, and has also opened a bank account for anyone who wants to make a direct donation.
“I’m hoping that the money will be spread out. I’m hoping that in two years, the money will be there in the bank — when everything’s died down and there are no more raffles,” she said.
Conway, who works as the emergency basic needs coordinator at Montague Catholic Social Ministries, said she’s had to take time off work during Dimitri’s treatments.
“My work has been working with me, they’ve dropped my hours down and I’ve been able to work from the hospital,” she added.
Wells said her grandson’s spirits have been high throughout the entire process, but said he’s glad to finally be home and back with his twin brother, Corbin, and the rest of the family.
“He’s been really good through this whole thing,” she said.
She added Dimitri even got to meet Celtics player Marcus Smart while he was at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Conway has also created a Facebook page — TeamMeaty — named after Dimitri’s longtime nickname, where she posts updates on his progress. It can be viewed at www.facebook.com/DimitriDConway.
Checks made out to “Dimitri Conway Team Meaty Fund” can be sent to Greenfield Co-Op Bank, P.O. Box 1345, Greenfield, MA 01302.
You can reach Aviva Luttrell at: aluttrell@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 268
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