(2001-2008)

"No this is not happening again," we cried. We lost one child to cancer and now 11 years later another son was sick. Cullen was a vibrant, energetic 5-year-old, who liked playing soccer and baseball. In fact it was one day on the soccer field that we noticed that something was off. Cullen started complaining about leg pain and we assumed it was all the activity he was doing. Taking nothing for granted, because years earlier we had been told that our son Matthew was experiencing ear infections when in reality it was a tumor in his face, we had Cullen checked out. Our worst fears came true that day when Cullen was diagnosed with leukemia. After fairly successful treatment, only a few setbacks, the leukemia was brought under control. We went on a fantastic Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World nine months after the first diagnosis. It was on that trip that he relapsed.

Months of treatments passed but nothing could contain the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Having experienced this in our lives before, we vowed that we would not define Cullen's life by his death but rather his relatively short but meaningful life. His Mom has given her energy to volunteering for others, his brother has vowed to take better care of himself and live life to the fullest. Dad, well, he's surviving but has decided to write, write and write as much as he can about Cullen and the brother he never met, Matthew. I have a feeling, no, I believe they have now met each other. So here we stand missing our boys but knowing that their lives will never be forgotten as long as we have a say in it.

Written by Jim Bryant, Cullen’s Dad
08/09