Six-year-old James Torraville loves to toss a football with his dad and he's got a cannon of an arm.
He wants to learn how to run through a team of tacklers to score a touchdown and this fall he's signed up for judo lessons to learn how to defend himself.
But his most difficult challenge comes from an opponent he can't see.
James has acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of childhood cancer, and he's been fighting it for most of his life. He was first diagnosed on July 1, 2011 when he was two-and-a-half.
Since then, James and his parents, Stefanie Watson and Mike Torraville, have been frequent travelers to and from Vancouver for chemotherapy, radiation treatments and blood transfusions. Those trips all add up and cost the family a lot of money.
Fortunately, there's a group of all-stars from the Northland Dodge Prince George Senior Baseball League stepping up to the plate to lend a helping hand. The league is hosting its annual fund-raising all-star game, home run derby and silent auction on Friday, Aug. 7 at Citizen Field and will donate the proceeds to James's family.
The treatments James has to endure at B.C. Children's Hospital are painful and frightening for him and gut-wrenching for his parents. Stefanie described what it's like in a recent post on James Torraville's Support Group Facebook page, a video which shows another mom holding her crying daughter as a nurse injects a chemical cocktail into her torso.
"This is what James goes through every time he has chemotherapy," Stefanie wrote. "And every time it is emotionally, mentally, physically hard on him. This is our reality and has been for four years.
"It is so hard to watch our son suffer, and fight every day of his life. I've had to do this with James, holding him down as he's getting accessed. Sometimes he puts up such a fight that we have to have an extra set of hands to hold him down as he's screaming, crying hysterically in fear. It's not easy.
"Every day is a fight and if only for one second people could just see what it's like on the inside..."
Statistically in Canada, 98 per cent of kids treated for the first time for ALL go on to lead healthy and productive lives. Better treatments and improved diagnostic tools have increased the five-year survival rate from 60 per cent in 1975 to nearly 90 per cent for children younger than 15 years.
The survival rate drops to 50 per cent when there is a relapse of the condition, as there was with James a year ago.
After nearly three years on a chemotherapy maintenance program, James was living an active life and looking forward to going to kindergarten with his playmates. But a test revealed cancer cells had returned to his spinal fluid. In July 2014, he returned to B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver for more high-dose chemotherapy, blood and platelet transfusions, and a lumbar puncture. The chemotherapy program requires James to be in Vancouver for two-and-a-half weeks of each month for two years.
BCCH has become a home away from home for Stefanie and Mike and while in the hospital they've gotten to know several other parents whose children are being treated for the same condition. They've also found it helpful to go on Facebook to connect with other people dealing with the same issues to help them get through the tough days.
"We have met a lot of amazing families who have become our friends," said Stefanie.
"The staff (at BCCH) are so supportive and take really good care of James. We stay right in the hospital because the chemotherapy is so intense with so many side effects. The treatment in May made his blood pressure drop and it stayed like that for five days (until the medication took effect). He had a fever of 42 degrees. That was a really scary day for me."
The medicine used to kill the cancer cells causes allergic reactions, blood infections, thrush and other complications. In July, James was brought to UHNBC when he developed telescopic bowel syndrome after his small intestine moved into the large intestine, a side effect of the chemotherapy. He was later flown to BCCH where doctors learned his colon had become swollen, resulting in a high fever, cramping and intense abdominal pain for several days before it subsided.
James will have 10 days of radiation in August and will be on a maintenance chemotherapy program for the next year. Just before he left for Vancouver two weeks ago for his last high-dose treatment, he had hair growing on his head again, after nearly a year of being without it. He knew it wouldn't be long before he's bald again, but he just takes it all in stride.
"He's been doing really good," said Stefanie. "James is so positive and happy."
Last Thursday, James got a surprise visit at BCCH from B.C. Lions running back Andrew Harris and receiver Marco Ianuzzi and they left four tickets to the Lions-Montreal Alouettes game at B.C. Place Stadium on Aug. 20.
James and his family are looking forward to seeing the baseball all-star game at Citizen Field. The home run derby will start at 6 p.m., followed by a nine-inning game at 7. The all-star rosters, 12 players on each team, will be picked based on season statistics in league play this season. Admission for the Aug. 7 game is by donation.
"We're hoping we'll get a week off (from the treatments) and be home for the game," said Stefanie.
All-star game organizer Paul Wilson is asking local businesses and private donors to contribute items for the silent auction bid. All proceeds will go to the Torraville family. Wilson can be reached at 250-552-3559.
Last year's all-star game beneficiary was Kendall's Kids, an online bursary to honour the memory of Kendall Moore, a 17-year-old D.P. Todd student who drowned at Kwitzil Lake at a graduation party a year ago.
The game and silent auction raised $2,400, which gave several underprivileged or at-risk youth the opportunity to train for a year at Freedom Tae Kwon-do School, which Moore attended.
Stefanie, 26, and Mike, 28, have been together for nine years, since they first started dating in high school at Kelly Road. A pub night on July 1 raised $1,200 for them and a GoFundMe page for James is nearing its goal of $5,000.
