'U' Student Celebrates Final Chemo Treatment
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Connor Cosgrove, 22, is getting his last chemotherapy treatment Friday.
Teri Cannon, executive director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, says it's a day of celebration at the Amplatz Children's Hospital.
Teri Cannon
"It's really exciting for us when any patient can be declared in complete remission," Cannon said.
She says there are a lot people who don't know about this kind of cancer, or the fact that there are more than 150 types of blood cancer.
Cannon says research has come a long way in the last 60 years.
"We've funded nearly a billion dollars in research," she said.
Cannon says the survival rates have increased dramatically since the 1960s.
Connor's mother, Shelly Cosgrove, brought along a special Hawaiian shirt to the hospital, which he would wear whenever he played baseball.
Connor's Shirt
"Connor was playing baseball and he was up to bat, and kept hitting the ball foul but stayed with it, and kept fighting for the hit, and got it, to win the game," Cosgrove said.
She says Connor's coach mailed him the garment when he heard about his cancer diagnosis.
"And he kind of took that and did an analogy to fighting through when you're back is against the wall, and adversity strikes," she said. "He took the comparison to that game and how Connor will fight this the same way he fought for the hit."
Connor told his coach that on the day of his final treatment, he planned to walk out of the hospital, wearing the lucky shirt.
