TOP STORY, FEB.: Adrian Littlejohn

In preparation for the New Year the Observer is taking the holiday week to reflect on the big stories of the year. We are counting down the top 12 stories of 2011 for all Observers. Check back each day for a reprinting — and any relevant updates — of the biggest news items of the year. Updates at bottom.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEB. 24, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG — A mother knows.

When Adrian Shawn Littlejohn bound into the world on Feb. 4, 2010 — a full three weeks early — mom Ivette Littlejohn knew he was the perfect baby boy.

And when his smile could light up an entire room, Ivette knew Adrian had the same charisma as his father, Lakewood Ranch High School football and track coach Anthony Littlejohn.

And when Adrian took to sitting, crawling and rolling over, his mom knew: This was one strong little boy.

A mother knows.

And on that day, Nov. 24, 2010 — the day before Thanksgiving — Ivette knew something was wrong when she heard Adrian’s cry that morning.

That horrible cry.

“It was a different cry,” she says. “It wasn’t his normal cry.”

In the days before, Ivette had noticed a difference in her son. The normally energetic boy who had taken to crawling and rolling was lethargic, unable to move. His pediatrician thought it was constipation. An ER physician said it was an ear infection and air in his stomach.

But a mother knows.

And on that day, when the Littlejohns returned to the ER, Ivette wasn’t about to leave until she had an answer. That morning, when the ER doctor felt Adrian’s legs, he knew, too.

Something wasn’t right.

An ambulance sped over the Sunshine Skyway with Adrian and Ivette inside, bound for All Children’s Hospital. And even before Anthony arrived in the family car, a neurosurgeon diagnosed Adrian with a tumor inside his spine that required immediate surgery.

“We got there at 1 p.m., and by 1:30 p.m., he was in surgery,” Ivette remembers. “It was so fast.”
A mother knows.

THE LONG ROAD
In the months that followed, the Littlejohns have become more familiar with All Children’s Hospital than they ever wanted to be.

On Thanksgiving, the Littlejohns transferred to the hospital’s oncology floor as they waited for test results. After Adrian’s initial surgery, surgeons believed the tumor was a neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in infancy. But when the pathology results came back Nov. 30, 2010, doctors diagnosed Adrian with stage-four atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor, a rare pediatric cancer, on his spine. AT/RT is so rare that its diagnosis only began in the last five to 10 years; before that, it was considered a subset of medulloblastomas.

Dr. Stacie Stapleton, one of only a few oncologists who specialize in AT/RT, transferred to All Children’s from Dallas just two weeks before the Littlejohns arrived. Stapleton prescribed six months of chemotherapy, but just before the first round, an MRI revealed that the tumor that had been removed during the first surgery already had grown back to three times its original size.

Surgeons again removed the tumor on Dec. 9. That day, Ivette wrote in her online Caring Bridge journal: “Everything happened so fast again that it’s still hard to believe. We still have moments where we ask each other if this is really going on.”

Immediately following surgery, Adrian began his first chemotherapy treatment. And despite the aggressive dosage and schedule, he is responding well.

“Pound for pound, if you or I were to have the same level of chemo, it would probably kill us,” Anthony says.

But not Adrian.

“He acts like nothing has happened,” Ivette says, smiling. “He’s very resilient, and we’re just trying to keep that positive energy around him.

“Sure, we have our moments, but we never do it in front of him,” she says. “We have to be strong, too, to help him fight this.”

And so far, that positive energy, coupled with Stapleton’s treatment regimen, is working. Subsequent MRIs show the tumor shrinking, and as long as that trend continues, chemo will be Adrian’s only treatment. However, if the shrinking stops, surgery followed by potentially harmful radiation treatment would be the last resort.

“We know it’s a long road, but we’re on it now,” Ivette says.

DAY BY DAY
Afternoon light shines through the window of Children’s Hospital Room 768. The Littlejohns’ suitcases are half-packed, ready to be placed back in the car after another four-day stay for chemotherapy.

Adrian is awake and alert, perched on his father’s lap as he nibbles on an M&M. An IV drips much-needed fluids back into Adrian’s body following the chemo. Ivette relaxes in a chair under a blanket. Later tonight, the Littlejohns will make the trek back home.

And even here, on the oncology floor, even with hospital blips and beeps breaking the silence, with an IV connected to her son and with her life shaken to its very core, Ivette smiles.

“We have been so blessed,” she says. “There are so many people who care about him and love him.”
At Lakewood Ranch High School, the Student Government Association will host its Second Annual Dodgeball Tournament Feb. 24 to raise money for Adrian’s trust fund.

“(SGA Adviser) Kent Ringquist came to me, but in these times, the only thing I’m worried about is my son,” Anthony says. “I told him that the only thing we’re asking is that people pray for us.

“But those kids — they absolutely wanted to do it, and to see them really going beyond themselves to do something for you … it’s just so great,” he says.

At home, the Littlejohns’ routine is governed completely by Adrian’s blood count. When it’s high, the family can function with some semblance of normalcy. When it’s low, they’re home-bound.

“We have to live day by day,” Anthony says. “Everything is literally based on his blood count.”

Even everyday activities such as a dinner out or shopping at the mall must be carefully planned. And every fever spike results in at least a two-day stay at the hospital.

But every day, the Littlejohns say, is a blessing.

“The doctor told us that nothing is guaranteed,” Anthony says. “And so we’re taking every day as a win. We got through this chemo — that’s a win. The MRI showed a little shrinking, even just a half-an-inch, that’s a win.”

Contact Michael Eng at [email protected].
 

UPDATE: Adrian Shawn Littlejohn died May 1 at home in his mother’s arms. However, his legacy continues to live on in the hearts and minds of everyone who knew him. The Littlejohns were one of several beneficiaries of the Payton Wright Foundation’s golf outing in May, and Lakewood Ranch High School changed the name of its spring football game to the Adrian Shawn Littlejohn Memorial Spring Football Game.