A simple slip on the ice changed Myles Krick’s world forever.
He was just 6-years-old and was ice skating and celebrating Christmas with family.
“I just remember falling on the ice, and then there was a big bump on my forehead," he said.
His mom, Sarah Mikkelsen-Krick says that big bruise was really a blessing in disguise.
“You look back, and you think he had headaches and we were starting to see there were some signs, but we had no idea,” Mikkelsen-Krick said.
Myles didn’t show the typical signs of having a tumor.
They went to doctor’s office because of the bump … but an MRI revealed much more. Myles was diagnosed with medulloblastoma.
Two days later, he underwent brain surgery to remove the tumor.
“All of sudden it was medulloblastoma,” Mikkelsen-Krick said. “What is that? How do you spell it?"
Myles did chemotherapy and radiation, hoping to get rid of the deadly disease.
"It was a lot of constant back and forth between hospital and school and home and homework,” Myles said. “It was just not fun.”
The day after his ninth birthday, doctors discovered two new tumors. This time, they were able to use critical data from his original tumor to fight the new ones.
The Krick family says that wouldn’t have been possible without the Morgan Adams Foundation, which funded a gene chip that doctors implanted into the removed tumor.
The Morgan Adams Foundation is a Denver-based charity that raises money to help fund pediatric cancer research.
“Thank goodness for that chip that was in that original tumor to give us that option to try something different at that time,” Mikkelsen-Krick said.
"I kind of knew I was going to get through it. I just had a positive attitude all the time,” Myles said.
He’s on the other side now, smiling and thankful for this precious life.
“For like Morgan Adams, for raising so much money for them to do the research for every other kid who had tumors like me," Myles said.
“The biggest thing was our faith. That’s what got us through. And trusting what God had planned for Myles,” Mikkelsen-Krick said.
Not a moment goes by they don’t thank God for getting them through the good days and the bad.
Tuesday is Colorado Gives Day, a day to give back to non-profits in the state.
If you would like to donate to the Morgan Adams Foundation, head to: http://bit.ly/1vxuEgf
