MASSEY DRIVE, N.L. — Josh Skinner can quickly flip from being a goofy 17-year-old who jokes about almost everything, to a young man wise beyond his years.
“I know that my situation hasn’t been the luckiest,” he said recently from his Massey Drive home, “but you look at the other problems in the world. Like maybe I have a health problem right now, but some people have a problem at home.”
Josh was diagnosed in July with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer.
He had noticed a mass in March and without hesitation told his parents, Brian and Krista Skinner.
The initial diagnosis was he had an infection and was treated with antibiotics. The mass didn’t go away and on July 24 he underwent surgery at Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook.
The next day the family was told the mass showed signs of cancer.
A CAT scan came back negative but not long after they got a call for Josh to travel to the Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre in St. John’s for a PET scan, which confirmed the cancer diagnosis.
"I’m young and resilient and I’ve got the power to fight this." - Josh Skinner
Josh’s first thought was to thank God it wasn’t affecting one of his family members.
“Nobody wants cancer, but if anybody was going to have it I’m glad it’s me. Because I knew that I could handle it well,” he said.
So, instead of starting his final year of high school at Corner Brook Regional High, Josh is now enrolled at Holy Heart of Mary School in St. John’s as he undergoes treatment.
“And I’m very lucky to have a very good prognosis that this will be over for me in June,” he said.
By then he’ll have gone through 42 weeks of chemotherapy, which started in September; and radiation treatments, which start in November.
Fighting as a family
While recently home in Corner Brook for a week, Josh sat with his parents in their living room and talked about how they are facing this journey as they have everything in life — together.
Josh said his parents are at the centre of his inner circle.
“And they’ve done more for me than you’d think possible.”
His sense of humour creeps in as he adds, “they might get on my nerves sometimes.”
Then his maturity resurfaces with, “it’s been amazing to have the blessing of them raising me.”
“We’re really close,” said Krista. She said they’ve raised Josh to know they don’t judge and are always there to listen.
“He’s been my rock,” she said. “He’s matured so much in the last three months. Josh has got a really big heart.”
As for the diagnosis and treatment, Brian said Josh understands it better than they do.
Hearing the cancer was curable was a relief, but it was still difficult to get their heads around the length of treatment and what it would mean for the family. Brian is on leave from his job at Corner Brook Pulp and Paper and Krista has had to stop work as a day-care provider.
Josh said he's not going to stress himself out.
“I know what’s going on. I know as much as I need to," he said. “It’s hard on me sometimes, but I know I don’t have to be strong for anybody else."
He believes the hardest thing for his parents is seeing him away from his element.
“Having to give up his senior year, basically,” said Brian.
So they try to keep things as normal as possible.
“It’s very hard as a parent because you don’t want to push too far, you don’t want to make him do stuff,” said Krista.
The hardest part
That’s why having the week home in between treatments — they were to return to St. John’s this past Sunday — meant so much to them.
The hardest thing for Josh has nothing to do with his condition or treatments, it’s being homesick, missing his family and friends.
“Being away from my buddies is probably the worst thing that could be done to me,” he said.
“If I could shrink the Janeway and just pop it in Corner Brook, that would be perfect. Either that or have a good old teleport machine in the room out there that I can get the boys to come see me, that would be good.”
It’s those boys — Brady Parsons, Riley Simms, Ethan Pickett, Lucas Park and Jesse Hickey — Josh considers a part of his circle.
A circle he keeps a bit guarded.
“I don’t want anyone to be there for me if they’re not going to be there after.”
But it’s not just his friends who have been there for him, Corner Brook Regional High’s guidance counsellor Gerard Lowe and all the students and staff, his godmother Connie Strickland, all those involved in his treatment at the Janeway, the people at Ronald McDonald House, 12 Months 12 Miracles, the Western Kings, the people in Massey Drive and Corner Brook and from his parents’ hometown of Burgeo have all been there to offer support through words and donations.
“It almost brings me tears,” he said of the amazing outpouring of caring his family has received.
“This is a long journey for me now,” he said.
“I’m young and resilient and I’ve got the power to fight this.”
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Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker
