Jamie's Story

Prior to April 19, 2005, the idea of cancer never crossed Jamie Ekstrom’s mind. He was an active 16 year- old junior in high school. He had a job, ran track, did cross-country, competed on the swim team and loved music. He was a typical easy-going teenager.

At the end of Jamie’s junior year of high school, right before prom he developed a high fever and started having flu like symptoms. After waking up one day with intense pain throughout his whole body, he went to the doctor for testing. Immediately the doctor saw a problem with his lab work and sent him to the hospital. Jamie spent four days in the hospital as the doctors tried to find out what was wrong. Finally on April 19, 2005 Jamie was diagnosed with A.L.L. or Acute Lymphoid Leukemia. That week Jamie was transferred to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and began his battle against cancer.

“The first thing I asked my doctor when he told me about the treatment, was when I was going to be able to run again,” said Jamie. “Being told I wasn’t going to be able to run senior year was one of the hardest things. In high school running was what kind of defined me. I stayed on the cross-country team and worked as a trainer, but I couldn’t run in the fall.”

Jamie had a long road of treatment ahead of him. He began with chemotherapy treatments every week, and then he went down to treatments every other week and finally he went to having chemo on a monthly basis. This went on for three years. Jamie responded well to treatments, but it was not easy.

“I had long hair and it started falling out,” said Jamie. I was able to hold onto it until the end of junior year and then I had to cut it short, three weeks into summer I had to shave it totally off. That was tough. The hardest part of having cancer was looking like I had cancer.”

Jamie began his freshman year at Georgia College & State University within the first year of his treatment. He lived in the dorms and traveled back home once a month for chemotherapy.

“I really wanted to go,” said Jamie. “Lots of parents probably wouldn’t send their kids to college with cancer. Family played a huge, huge part in my recovery. Going through something like this can either break a family apart or pull them closer together. It really drew us closer together. It helped me understand the love of a parent.”

Starting college for most freshmen is challenging enough, but undergoing grueling rounds of chemotherapy added a whole new layer to the meaning of the word challenging. The chemo compromised his immune system and Jamie had to deal with meningitis, pancreatitis and numerous hospitalizations. Finals sent Jamie into the hospital every semester, but he kept on going.

Jamie attributes his faith as a driving force in his life.

“ I tried my best to focus on the positive,” said Jamie. “From the beginning I knew I was going to beat it. Faith is what really drove a lot of things. Prior to that I was thing that got me going, but when I was diagnosed I kind of made a deal with God. I prayed that if He could heal me I would devote my life to Him. From that day on I knew it was not in my hands anymore.”

On August 3, 2008 Jamie finished his last treatment. Jamie is planning to get a tattoo of the dates 04/19/05 and 08/03/08 to commemorate the day he was diagnosed and the day he beat cancer. Next April will mark the fifth anniversary of his diagnosis and at that point he will be considered cured of leukemia. Right now Jamie is focusing on living in the moment and planning for his future. He is graduating in May and plans on attending graduate school to become a counselor. He has a love for people and hopes to counsel pediatric cancer patients.

“I’ve learned that people are what really are important,” said Jamie. “Most everything else that seems important doesn’t really matter. Spending as much time with the people you care about is what really matters.”