February 9, 2025 • 10 mins
Trevor was a co-worker of Mindy and Mikaela’s at NBC4, and Mikaela was pregnant with Logan
at the same time Trevor and Beth were expecting Weston. Weston was recently diagnosed with a grade 3 tumor on his spine and is being treated at Nationwide Children’s. A Go Fund me set up to help with treatment needs, medical costs, specialized care and living expenses has 88% to their goal of $28k.
at the same time Trevor and Beth were expecting Weston. Weston was recently diagnosed with a grade 3 tumor on his spine and is being treated at Nationwide Children’s. A Go Fund me set up to help with treatment needs, medical costs, specialized care and living expenses has 88% to their goal of $28k.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All have that moment when we open up our Facebook
app and see some really tough news and your heart
just thinks. I mean, every one of us, I think
has that shared experience.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
One percent. And it's either with people that we've known
for years and we learned something tragic, or sometimes it's
just something that we see and we have no affiliation
to them at all, but our hearts go out just
for the complete situation that a family's going through in general.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And this show has tried to be a positivity and
a place to make the world a little smaller in
the almost seven years that we've done the show. And
so when I opened up Facebook the other day and
saw that one of our former coworkers is about to
go through a pretty big battle with his son, it
was time to rally the troops in the best way
(00:56):
we could. Mindy and I called you up and I said,
do you remember Woods who worked with us at NBC four.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
What did we call that area was? Do we call
it seabots? Is that what we called it?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah? Seabots? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So basically Channel four had this kind of room inside
the station that worked with commercial breaks at.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
TV stations like hub hub, like a hub.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, across the country, and Trevor was always so kind
and if I'm not mistaken, I think he always wore
a tar heels Jersey Mindy and his wife was pregnant
with their son, Weston, the exact same time I was
pregnant with Logan.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Small World.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Small World.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And when we opened up Facebook, saw that Weston is
going through the battle of his life, and so we
wanted to bring Beth Woods, his mom, on to talk
with us today.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Trevor's unable to join us. Beth.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I understand on you you're on the line. Thank you
so much for coming on and letting us help you
in any way we can.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Thank you guys so much for having me. I really
appreciate this opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You guys are going through a lot right now. Go ahead, Mindy,
I was just.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Gonna ask, but can you tell us the story of
what's going on with your family exactly? Tell us when
you first found out the diagnosis and just what you've
been facing every day. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Sure, so so Weston our son. He's fourteen and a
half and he was kind of having like some pretty
significant neck pain starting at the end of November, followed
up by like a walking pneumonia diagnosis and then another
pneumonia diagnosis in January, and this neck pain would just
not subside. We were trying all the things, you know,
(02:39):
the in sets and taking them to the chiropractor, and
so finally we followed up with our pediatrician who said
something's up here, you know, So she sent us to
get a brain MRI. And the brain memri looked okay,
but they did see a spot on there at the
top of his cervical spine. That led us to get
some further imaging. So that led us to Nationwide Children's
(03:02):
and then we were admitted pretty quickly as they had
found a tumor on his cervical and thoracic spine that
was pretty sizable, and so that kind of happened all
within like a couple of days. We had the MRI,
we got to Nationwhite Children's on January twenty second, we
were admitted and then they were able to do a
(03:24):
biopsy the following Monday, and then we kind of had
to wait for some pathology to come back, and they
did diagnose him with a Grade three appendymoma, which is
a type of cancerous tumor, and it had metastasized metastasize
excuse me, to a spot on his lumber spine as well.
So it's been just kind of like procedure after procedure
(03:47):
after procedure. He, like I said, they were able to
remove the tumor, which was wonderful and we were very
grateful to doctor Eric Scherbnick, who's is neurosurgeon, for removing
the tumor. And then unfortunately after the biopsy, like before
they even removed the tumor, after the biopsy, he had
some respiratory distress, so he was intubated and in the PICU.
(04:11):
So he had to be intobated for a couple of
weeks and then was just recently able to get that
et tube out. However, we did have to have a
tracheostomy so that he has a secure airway and like
a feeding tube. So he's just been through the ring
or the skuy like and he is when I tell you,
this kid is a fighter. He this morning was pretty
(04:32):
awake when I got there, and the breathing tube is out,
which is great because we can see his mouth and
he can kind of mouth words to us because he
doesn't have function right now in his arms and legs,
and he doesn't have his voice right now, so I
thought he was mouthing words to me, and then I
realized he was just singing along to the worship music
that I hadn't playing with him, and I just lost
(04:53):
it because I'm like, this is this is my kid,
Like this is the kind of kid that he is.
He's just the most kind hearted, carrying young man that
you'll ever meet. So we are. We're in there with
him every day and he is fighting hard.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Oh, mindy, that worship music song just speaks to our heart.
I know that. Oh my gosh, I got chills when
you said that.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Best.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh. I have always believed that people who go through
any type of adversity, if you are strong in your faith,
you handle life's knockdowns so much better. So what's the
next sept for you and your son, your entire family?
What's the next Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:32):
So, the trait is healing and we will be doing
he will be doing some radiation treatments at the James
at os U. We don't have a start day for
that yet, but he'll do six weeks of radiation Monday
through Friday. They do some proton therapy radiation. There's state
of the art so we're very like excited about that
(05:55):
and feel very hopeful, and then that's kind of our
next step. We're also wading like some molecular testing to
come back about the tumor, just to give us more
information about like the prognosis and kind of if there
needs to be any other treatments or anything to follow
up after the radiation.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
How common is this kind of cancer, especially for kids'
best So from what.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I understand, it's not super common. It's also not like
something that we could have necessarily like prevented. Not that
really a lot of cancers are like that, right, but
you know, they were like, this is not something you
would have been looking for at like his regular well
checks or anything like that. And they do think it
was quite aggressive because the symptoms kind of came on
(06:39):
so rapidly and just the size of the tumor. They
felt like it was a pretty quick growing, aggressive tumor
and the fact that it had sized fantastasized to that
other spot in his spine as well.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
So what what do you want to tell our listeners?
What can we all do for you? And what do
you want to tell anyone maybe is going through a
similar situations.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, I will tell you our communities. So my husband
and I both work in education. Trevor is a video
broadcast teacher at Bellfountain High School and I'm a school
counselor at Plains City Elementary School, which is part of
Jonathan Alder Local Schools. They have been like immensely supportful,
just like wrapping their arms around us. I mean, we
have had, you know, financial donations through the GoFundMe, We've
(07:26):
had people bringing us meals, We've had people donating door
dash gift cards and which has all been amazing and
beneficial for our family. But the biggest and most important
support for us, as like our family of faith, is
the prayers that have come in. I mean we are
just like when I tell you, like we can feel it,
Like I truly mean that we can feel the peace
(07:47):
that comes along with that and just the like you
were saying, like when you have that fake you just
have that foundation that you know, like, of course, this
isn't something we want for our sun or we want
to be going through, but we know that there's going
to be something good to come out of it, and
we know that Weston is a very special young man.
So prayers are super super important. And then if people
(08:09):
feel so inclined and they want to, you know, financially
support us or help in any way, there are avenues
like through the GoFundMe, and that's kind of all. We
set up a carring Bridge website that just kind of
updates Western's progress and so those things are there. And
then also like on our personal social media Trevor and mine.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
As well, your go fundme, you are eighty nine percent
to your goal, which is.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Just so amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I mean really it is. So if listeners, we'll post
the GoFundMe link if listeners want to help you get
to that end goal.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Because this is a long term.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Thing and the financial burden on families, I'm sure you're learning,
it's just so great in so many different ways, especially
when you have more than one kid at home too.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Yeah, and you know, unfortunately, I'm not sure how much
Trevor shared with you guys, but I've been through a
cancer diagnosis myself, so unfortunately, like we we kind of
know this world more than we want to, if that
makes sense, Like we've we've been through this, but I
will tell you that it is one thousand percent more
difficult to watch your child go through something and just
(09:15):
feel so helpless. But it also gives me great positivity
that like being a cancer sever and like Henna, He's
gonna kick this cancer's butt. He's gonna come out on
the other side stronger than ever. He's gonna have a
great story to tell. And I just I can't wait
to get to that side of this.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know what, though, it might be a blessing. And
maybe that's why your son's able to stay so positive
because his mom already kicked his butt. So if mom
can do it, I can do it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And I keep reminded of that. I'm like, buddy, do
you remember when mom was in the hospital, and because
he was little, I was actually pregnant with my daughter
when I was going through my cancer, and so he
was there, like you know, with me in the hospital
off and on, and he's like I do remember, And
I was like, remember, I is not there forever. You're
not going to be here forever, because he's he's going
to be at Nationwide for probably the next several weeks
while he goes through radiation. But I just keep trying to,
(10:09):
you know, instill that in him and remember, like you're
a warrior, you're a fighter, you got this. God's on
your side.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So oh, you guys are a testament to faith. I
mean truly and completely.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I'm so grateful that you were able to join Mindy
and I this afternoon, and we will share your story
and the information, and I know we will multiply those
prayers you're looking for for Weston and your family.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
That is more than we could asked for it. Thank you,
ladies so much for the opportunity to share our heart
and share our family story.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
No, thank you for sharing your story, and please keep
us updated so we can also keep our listeners updated.
And we will most definitely be praying for you and
your son, your entire family.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
We will, we will. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Thanks Beth. This is what matters.
All have that moment when we open up our Facebook
app and see some really tough news and your heart
just thinks. I mean, every one of us, I think
has that shared experience.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
One percent. And it's either with people that we've known
for years and we learned something tragic, or sometimes it's
just something that we see and we have no affiliation
to them at all, but our hearts go out just
for the complete situation that a family's going through in general.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And this show has tried to be a positivity and
a place to make the world a little smaller in
the almost seven years that we've done the show. And
so when I opened up Facebook the other day and
saw that one of our former coworkers is about to
go through a pretty big battle with his son, it
was time to rally the troops in the best way
(00:56):
we could. Mindy and I called you up and I said,
do you remember Woods who worked with us at NBC four.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
What did we call that area was? Do we call
it seabots? Is that what we called it?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah? Seabots? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So basically Channel four had this kind of room inside
the station that worked with commercial breaks at.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
TV stations like hub hub, like a hub.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, across the country, and Trevor was always so kind
and if I'm not mistaken, I think he always wore
a tar heels Jersey Mindy and his wife was pregnant
with their son, Weston, the exact same time I was
pregnant with Logan.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Small World.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Small World.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And when we opened up Facebook, saw that Weston is
going through the battle of his life, and so we
wanted to bring Beth Woods, his mom, on to talk
with us today.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Trevor's unable to join us. Beth.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I understand on you you're on the line. Thank you
so much for coming on and letting us help you
in any way we can.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Thank you guys so much for having me. I really
appreciate this opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You guys are going through a lot right now. Go ahead, Mindy,
I was just.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Gonna ask, but can you tell us the story of
what's going on with your family exactly? Tell us when
you first found out the diagnosis and just what you've
been facing every day. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Sure, so so Weston our son. He's fourteen and a
half and he was kind of having like some pretty
significant neck pain starting at the end of November, followed
up by like a walking pneumonia diagnosis and then another
pneumonia diagnosis in January, and this neck pain would just
not subside. We were trying all the things, you know,
(02:39):
the in sets and taking them to the chiropractor, and
so finally we followed up with our pediatrician who said
something's up here, you know, So she sent us to
get a brain MRI. And the brain memri looked okay,
but they did see a spot on there at the
top of his cervical spine. That led us to get
some further imaging. So that led us to Nationwide Children's
(03:02):
and then we were admitted pretty quickly as they had
found a tumor on his cervical and thoracic spine that
was pretty sizable, and so that kind of happened all
within like a couple of days. We had the MRI,
we got to Nationwhite Children's on January twenty second, we
were admitted and then they were able to do a
(03:24):
biopsy the following Monday, and then we kind of had
to wait for some pathology to come back, and they
did diagnose him with a Grade three appendymoma, which is
a type of cancerous tumor, and it had metastasized metastasize
excuse me, to a spot on his lumber spine as well.
So it's been just kind of like procedure after procedure
(03:47):
after procedure. He, like I said, they were able to
remove the tumor, which was wonderful and we were very
grateful to doctor Eric Scherbnick, who's is neurosurgeon, for removing
the tumor. And then unfortunately after the biopsy, like before
they even removed the tumor, after the biopsy, he had
some respiratory distress, so he was intubated and in the PICU.
(04:11):
So he had to be intobated for a couple of
weeks and then was just recently able to get that
et tube out. However, we did have to have a
tracheostomy so that he has a secure airway and like
a feeding tube. So he's just been through the ring
or the skuy like and he is when I tell you,
this kid is a fighter. He this morning was pretty
(04:32):
awake when I got there, and the breathing tube is out,
which is great because we can see his mouth and
he can kind of mouth words to us because he
doesn't have function right now in his arms and legs,
and he doesn't have his voice right now, so I
thought he was mouthing words to me, and then I
realized he was just singing along to the worship music
that I hadn't playing with him, and I just lost
(04:53):
it because I'm like, this is this is my kid,
Like this is the kind of kid that he is.
He's just the most kind hearted, carrying young man that
you'll ever meet. So we are. We're in there with
him every day and he is fighting hard.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Oh, mindy, that worship music song just speaks to our heart.
I know that. Oh my gosh, I got chills when
you said that.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Best.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh. I have always believed that people who go through
any type of adversity, if you are strong in your faith,
you handle life's knockdowns so much better. So what's the
next sept for you and your son, your entire family?
What's the next Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:32):
So, the trait is healing and we will be doing
he will be doing some radiation treatments at the James
at os U. We don't have a start day for
that yet, but he'll do six weeks of radiation Monday
through Friday. They do some proton therapy radiation. There's state
of the art so we're very like excited about that
(05:55):
and feel very hopeful, and then that's kind of our
next step. We're also wading like some molecular testing to
come back about the tumor, just to give us more
information about like the prognosis and kind of if there
needs to be any other treatments or anything to follow
up after the radiation.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
How common is this kind of cancer, especially for kids'
best So from what.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I understand, it's not super common. It's also not like
something that we could have necessarily like prevented. Not that
really a lot of cancers are like that, right, but
you know, they were like, this is not something you
would have been looking for at like his regular well
checks or anything like that. And they do think it
was quite aggressive because the symptoms kind of came on
(06:39):
so rapidly and just the size of the tumor. They
felt like it was a pretty quick growing, aggressive tumor
and the fact that it had sized fantastasized to that
other spot in his spine as well.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
So what what do you want to tell our listeners?
What can we all do for you? And what do
you want to tell anyone maybe is going through a
similar situations.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, I will tell you our communities. So my husband
and I both work in education. Trevor is a video
broadcast teacher at Bellfountain High School and I'm a school
counselor at Plains City Elementary School, which is part of
Jonathan Alder Local Schools. They have been like immensely supportful,
just like wrapping their arms around us. I mean, we
have had, you know, financial donations through the GoFundMe, We've
(07:26):
had people bringing us meals, We've had people donating door
dash gift cards and which has all been amazing and
beneficial for our family. But the biggest and most important
support for us, as like our family of faith, is
the prayers that have come in. I mean we are
just like when I tell you, like we can feel it,
Like I truly mean that we can feel the peace
(07:47):
that comes along with that and just the like you
were saying, like when you have that fake you just
have that foundation that you know, like, of course, this
isn't something we want for our sun or we want
to be going through, but we know that there's going
to be something good to come out of it, and
we know that Weston is a very special young man.
So prayers are super super important. And then if people
(08:09):
feel so inclined and they want to, you know, financially
support us or help in any way, there are avenues
like through the GoFundMe, and that's kind of all. We
set up a carring Bridge website that just kind of
updates Western's progress and so those things are there. And
then also like on our personal social media Trevor and mine.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
As well, your go fundme, you are eighty nine percent
to your goal, which is.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Just so amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I mean really it is. So if listeners, we'll post
the GoFundMe link if listeners want to help you get
to that end goal.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Because this is a long term.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Thing and the financial burden on families, I'm sure you're learning,
it's just so great in so many different ways, especially
when you have more than one kid at home too.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Yeah, and you know, unfortunately, I'm not sure how much
Trevor shared with you guys, but I've been through a
cancer diagnosis myself, so unfortunately, like we we kind of
know this world more than we want to, if that
makes sense, Like we've we've been through this, but I
will tell you that it is one thousand percent more
difficult to watch your child go through something and just
(09:15):
feel so helpless. But it also gives me great positivity
that like being a cancer sever and like Henna, He's
gonna kick this cancer's butt. He's gonna come out on
the other side stronger than ever. He's gonna have a
great story to tell. And I just I can't wait
to get to that side of this.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know what, though, it might be a blessing. And
maybe that's why your son's able to stay so positive
because his mom already kicked his butt. So if mom
can do it, I can do it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And I keep reminded of that. I'm like, buddy, do
you remember when mom was in the hospital, and because
he was little, I was actually pregnant with my daughter
when I was going through my cancer, and so he
was there, like you know, with me in the hospital
off and on, and he's like I do remember, And
I was like, remember, I is not there forever. You're
not going to be here forever, because he's he's going
to be at Nationwide for probably the next several weeks
while he goes through radiation. But I just keep trying to,
(10:09):
you know, instill that in him and remember, like you're
a warrior, you're a fighter, you got this. God's on
your side.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So oh, you guys are a testament to faith. I
mean truly and completely.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I'm so grateful that you were able to join Mindy
and I this afternoon, and we will share your story
and the information, and I know we will multiply those
prayers you're looking for for Weston and your family.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
That is more than we could asked for it. Thank you,
ladies so much for the opportunity to share our heart
and share our family story.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
No, thank you for sharing your story, and please keep
us updated so we can also keep our listeners updated.
And we will most definitely be praying for you and
your son, your entire family.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
We will, we will. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Thanks Beth. This is what matters.
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