17-05-2025
Clearfield 6-year-old conquering cancer with a smile
CLEARFIELD, Utah (ABC4) — Summer break is just around the corner, and for families with kids, that usually means vacations, picnics at the park, and lake days. However, for the Shaw family, it will mean spending a lot of time at the hospital while the youngest of three children courageously conquers cancer.
According to MacKenzie and Conner Shaw, about a month ago, doctors removed a four-centimeter tumor from their 6-year-old son's head. The tumor turned out to be cancerous, so the doctors tested his spinal fluid to see if the cancer had spread. The family received the results on Tuesday, and the cancer hadn't spread. However, to make sure all of the cancer is gone, Eddie is undergoing an aggressive treatment: six weeks of radiation and nine months of chemotherapy.
When Eddie is at home, there is one thing he loves to do with his two older brothers: 'Beat them at Guess Who,' he told ABC4 reporter Kade Garner. When he's not beating them at that game, he is probably writing them a ticket. Usually, the tickets come from one or two very specific violations. Eddie explained, 'They always park in the wrong spots and rob banks.'
His mom, MacKenzie, gets off a little easier. During the visit to the Shaw home, Eddie handed his mother a piece of paper from the same book he uses to write up tickets for his brothers. In a surprise gesture, the ticket turns out to be a drawing of a heart.
Aside from a small scar only slightly visible through Eddie's hair, when sitting down with him to talk, one would never know he recently had a tumor removed from his brain — an experience he summarized in a single word: 'Terrible.'
Eddie said the worst part of his experience was physical therapy. While he got to play games, he didn't like having to walk. In some videos his mother shared with ABC4, it is clear learning to walk was a feat in itself. However, there was a plus side to it all. He got to eat steak.
It all started back in December. Eddie was having stomach aches and was losing weight. 'We were doing all these different tests just to see what was going on and it wasn't getting better,' explained MacKenzie. She said they got a referral to get Eddie an endoscopy procedure done. However, she said it was going to be a while before they could be scheduled in. Then, about a month ago, Eddie's health got worse.
'Inconsolable migraines,' said MacKenzie. 'He would just bury his head in the couch and could not function. When I picked him up from school it was almost like he was drunk. He was stumbling, couldn't pick up his feet, eyes rolling, his speech was really slurred. I rushed him to his regular doctor, the one that's been working with us, and she was like, 'This is serious. Go take him to Primary's.''
She said she didn't even think about it. They got in the car and headed out. 'It was April 17 and we got there at 8 p.m. By 10 p.m., he got a CT scan and they found a three-centimeter tumor growing near his brain stem,' she stated. Through held-back tears she added, 'They admitted us.'
Within a day, Eddie's condition drastically deteriorated. MacKenzie said he was passing out. 'So, they had to rush him into surgery and what they pulled out was actually a four-centimeter tumor. It was so big that it was pushing on a part of his brain, and it was making the fluid buildup in his head.'
Even after nearly a month, the reality of the situation still hasn't set in for the family. 'It went from him just being sick with his tummy to tumor, surgery, and then we got the diagnosis of cancer,' she stated. 'All within a week.'
They weren't expecting a cancer diagnosis. 'I was just hoping they could fix him,' Conner said. 'That's all I could think about.'
'He's starting to get better because we got that out of his head. He's starting to get his appetite back, he's starting to get his energy back, and he's playing again,' MacKenzie added. 'It isn't fair to think that he's going to have to lose all that to get better.'
Eddie will lose that progress because he's getting additional treatment. On Thursday, he had his first radiation treatment. He took his stuffed axolotl for some company. He will have to do this multiple times a week for six weeks. After that is done, he will do chemotherapy for nine months.
'You don't want any of your kids to get sick and then when there's a lifelong diagnosis attached to it,' MacKenzie said, 'It's scary.' Conner replied, 'Yeah, really scary.'
They know they'll get through it. They are grateful for the village that is offering help when they need it and work schedules that allow one of them to be home on any given day. They also make sure to celebrate the victories that come along the way — victories like the cancer not spreading to Eddie's spinal cord fluid.
'You have to focus on the silver linings, the positive, those little wins, because otherwise you're going to be drowning in all the dark and heavy stuff,' added MacKenzie.
Possibly the biggest of those silver linings? Eddie himself.
'He's a goofball,' Conner said through a chuckle. 'Yeah,' replied MacKenzie. 'Oh my goodness, and when he was in the hospital, all of the little cards he got from his friends said how much they missed his jokes. He is just goofy, he is silly, he is lighthearted.'
There is a GoFundMe to help the family with all of the unexpected costs they're going to face over the next year or so.
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