MEET CONCERN’S 2018 BLOCK PARTY CANCER CRUSADER HONOREES THE CALVERT FAMILY
February 2018 - On March 21, 1998, Dr Jay Calvert married Kristen Calvert (Kris) and began the Calvert family. The newlyweds had to tough it out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for 3 years while Dr. Calvert finished his residency. During that time, the two of them solidified their love of hockey while attending as many Pittsburgh Penguins NHL hockey games as possible!
They moved to California where Dr. Calvert had his first experience as a tenure tract UC Irvine Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery. It was also during this time that the Calvert’s had their first close encounter with cancer. Kris’s father, Jim, was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and not a good one. He fought hard during this time, but six years after initial diagnosis, prostate cancer took his life. Dr Calvert’s father, Jeff, was also diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. Jeff underwent successful prostatectomy and is over a ten year survivor of that procedure.
Kris and Jay had four children over the span of a few short years, 2004 to 2009. Beau (13), Cait (11), Ace (9), and Elle (8).
Beau remembers Kris’s father’s bout with prostate cancer and then, in 2012, saw his brother, Ace diagnoses with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Ace had been sick on and off from August of 2012 and the pediatricians kept chalking it up to his sinus infections, and other childhood ailments. However, when he couldn’t walk the streets of the Pacific Palisades on Halloween, the Calvert’s all knew something was terribly wrong. He wasn’t getting better, only worse. Dr Calvert had to go to London to the Royal College of Surgeons to speak about his specialty, Rhinoplasty, a true honor, and before he left, Ace asked him, “Dad, do you think I’m going to die?” And his response was, “I hope not Ace, but I really don’t know at this point.” While Dr Calvert was away, a smart pediatrician named Dr Lisa Stern made the diagnosis and started induction therapy. Ace went through hell.
ACE Calvert’s Story
On November 9, 2012 when I was just 4 ½, I was diagnosed with leukemia. In a way I was glad to finally have an answer to why I didn’t feel well. My parents had been worried about me for months. I had gone to the ER with my dad for ankle pain in August and the doctor there didn’t think I needed to check labs because little kids like me hurt themselves like this all the time. I visited our regular pediatrician several times with infections and other non-specific symptoms. I would scream out in the middle of the night that my legs hurt. Finally around Halloween I could barely make it to walk around. I stayed home from school for a little while and the doctor thought I might have a sinus infection. Then on that final day, I was at school and screaming out for my parents. I got picked up immediately and taken to a different pediatrician in Santa Monica. Since we had just moved from Orange County to Los Angeles in September, this was my first time seeing this pediatrician, Dr. Lisa Stern.
As it turned out, Dr. Stern had completed a pediatric fellowship in hematology and oncology so she felt my liver and took my history and immediately sent me with my mom to have labs drawn at a UCLA facility. That very night only a few hours later, my mom and I drove over to the ER at Mattel Children’s Hospital to be admitted for my leukemia diagnosis. My dad was traveling in London and got on the first plane back to be with me. I really have to thank Dr. Stern. I was in so much pain and discomfort. Little did I know I had such a serious health disorder and that I would be in for a lot more discomfort before I felt any better! But, I was on the road to treatment and recovery.
My treatment response was a little slow so I was classified high standard risk, but I am very lucky I have two sisters and a big brother who all came to see me in the hospital at various times during my stays. My parents stayed with me at the hospital and I ended up with the biggest collection of Bionicles outside of the Lego store! I was neutropenic often so our entire house was bathed in bleach and hand sanitizer! My parents bought a twin bed just for me and put it in their room so they could monitor my temperature and my pain during the nights. I played a lot of Lego video games on our Wii U pretty much every day! That part I liked a lot. My dad’s stepfather even came out to live with us for 5 months along with our live-in nanny to help take care of me and the other kids since the demands of my health required A LOT of extra attention.
I lost my hair and was weak most of the time, but I still managed to have a great time with my family and even the nurses at the clinic. During my treatment I loved going to see everyone even though I still felt terrible for several days after each chemo treatment. I missed about 5 days of school each month.
On March 21, 2016 I turned 8 and we had a really big party since my treatment protocol ended on February 22nd and I didn’t have to take all that chemo anymore!
Today I feel very lucky to be alive and healthy. Now I can really enjoy just being a kid and a proud cancer survivor!
It’s truly an honor for Concern Foundation to recognize the Calvert family as this year’s Cancer Crusader honorees for their commitment to helping provide salary support for cancer researchers and for sharing their personal story.