- April 28, 2024
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Wearing a Spiderman hat made especially for him, Zac presents a flower and a smile. Courtesy photo
The Catalano family, Mike, Lisa and Zac, on April 21 at Nemours in Orlando. They were all wearing orange for "Bray Day" to celebrate one year since Brayden Norton-Henry was diagnosed with Leukemia. Courtesy photo
Zac Catalano gives a big, brave smile from his bed at Nemours Orlando. Courtesy photo
A Mickey Mouse fan, Zac was all smiles when Minne came to visit him at Nemours in Orlando. Courtesy photo
Zac, sporting a Nemour's T-shirt, gets a chemo treatment. Courtesy photo
Zac Catalano, Zachary if he's in trouble, sleeps in a race car bed – his first “big boy bed.” He tosses and turns, and the bed is hard plastic, so the bruises on his lower legs didn't alarm his parents, Lisa and Mike – at first.
Then one of his grandmothers noticed the glands on his neck were swollen and a trip to the walk-in clinic was planned after daycare.
“I actually drove here first (Flagler County Public Library) and Holly (Albanese, director) felt them as well, and it was agreed we needed to get him looked at,” Lisa Catalano said.
Albanese is Lisa Catalano's boss.
“I think Lisa looks up to me, more like a big sister,” Albanese said, adding that 3-year-old Zac is “all boy and very active.”
While the nurse initially dismissed it as new parents who may have scared themselves by “Googling” the symptoms, the doctor immediately grasped the urgency of the situation.
In a couple of hours they would be told, “Your son has cancer.”
“I think the doctor immediately knew, after looking at the bruises and feeling his glands, because he said, 'We need you to go to Halifax (Hospital) and have blood work done',” Lisa Catalano said. “Now!” her husband added.
The doctor told the couple that he would call the hospital so they wouldn't have to wait.
“They took us right in, we didn't have to wait, and there must have been 30-40 people in the waiting room,” Lisa Catalano said.
Zac was tested for the flu, strep throat, and had an x-ray. The Catalanos wondered why, when they thought they were just there for blood tests, a chest x-ray was needed.
“The doctor walked in close to midnight and matter of factly said, “Your son has cancer and we need to choose which hospital to take him to now,” Lisa Catalano said. “That's how we found out, and it was a complete shock.”
The choices were; Nemours Hospital in Orlando or Jacksonville. The couple chose Orlando because they were more familiar with the area.
“Mike rode with him in the ambulance and I followed in the car,” Lisa Catalano said.
The date was March 21, 2016. The couple would stay with their son at the hospital until they brought him home on April 1. On April 21 they wore orange for Bray Day, a Bunnell Elementary kindergartener they had been following on Facebook, who was celebrating one year since he was diagnosed with leukemia.
Zac goes to the hospital weekly for chemotherapy. When his counts are low, he is given blood transfusions, and he takes medications at home. Recently the couple has started giving him injections at home – something that will take all of them time to adjust to.
“He knows something is not right with him, but basically he just says, 'I don't feel good,' and that's how we decide how he is for the day,” Mike Catalano said. “Some days he acts perfectly normal and wants to argue, and have his way – other days he says, 'I want to lay in bed.'”
Most of the upcoming months of chemo will be out-patient for Zac. In July he will have to have a treatment that is harsher on his body, that requires an IV saline flush at the same time. For that, he will stay for a few days.
“Nemours is great,” Mike Catalano said “They have rooms where he can change the lighting to make his room different colors, and a TV with games for him, and children's movies on demand.”
Two of Lisa Catalano's friends and co-workers, Jackie Brown and Shannon Ivory, have organized a golf tournament at Grand Reserve on Sunday, May 15 to help the family with medical expenses that will surpass insurance coverage for the next several years. As of Friday, May 6, 56 players had signed up for the tournament. Brown and Ivory are hoping that number will increase.
The couple has received a lot of support from local businesses and individuals, who, like Mike Catalano's employer, Bright House, have sponsored holes, and donated prizes. The sponsors of the event are Grand Reserve and Palm Coast Ford.
Zac is now neutropenic – highly susceptible to infections – and is home-bound.
“We would like to bring him out to the tournament, but we don't know at this point if he is going to be able to come.”
