A Miracle for Desmond

Our son Dezmond was born on January 13, 2011, in Boise, Idaho. We arrived in Hawaii on July 4, 2012. My wife Mary jokes that Dezmond’s soul heard we were going to Hawaii, and he decided there was no way we were going without him.

EVERYTHING SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL

In early November of last year, a doctor took samples of an abscess/growth on Dezmond’s gum. The doctor told us not to worry about cancer because oral cancer does not occur in eleven-year-old children. I was standing outside of Adela’s Country Eatery on November 11, 2022, waiting for take-out when I got the worst news of my life. I received a call from Dr. Nishimoto, an oral surgeon.“ Jeff, are you home? Are you sitting down?” asked the doctor. “No, waiting for food.” “If you want to go home, I can call you back.” “Absolutely not, please tell me now.” The doctor said. “It’s cancer.”

It was like I was somewhere else watching

myself talking into my phone. I just stuffed down

every proper emotion and asked Dr. Nishimoto

questions on Dez’s treatment as if my son was a car.

It was all I could do to maintain composure.

Dr. Nishimoto explained that he spoke with the

doctor he did his residency under in Seattle. They

agreed Dezmond would be needing surgery to

remove all of the teeth/gums below the upper left

jawbone. Part of his palate also needed to be

removed. A piece of Dezmond’s leg bone would

replace the jawbone/palate and a skin graft would

be used to cover it. In addition, Dezmond would

need a neck dissection to remove the lymph nodes

which would result in a sizable scar. A prosthesis