West Valley grad never let cancer get in way of success

In a classroom at West Valley High School sit Ryan Hawkins and Lindsay Stinger. They work quietly, Hawkins on homework and Stinger grading assignments.

Hawkins, a senior, says it’s a relief to be graduating. The ease by which some made it through school is foreign to him.

“I always think back and I’m like, ‘God, I worked my butt off to get here,’ ” he said.

Hawkins wasn’t always able to be in the classroom, and Stinger wasn’t always sitting at the desk across from him.

That’s because at 13, Hawkins was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia: blood cancer.

His parents told him he could leave school, but he wanted to keep his grades up and graduate on time.

That’s where Stinger came into the picture. Recently graduated from Gonzaga University, tutoring Hawkins was her first “real job.”

Coming to his house for the first time, she knew it would be uncomfortable for him. She said freshmen in high school already tend to be uncomfortable in their own skin, but Hawkins was losing his hair from chemotherapy, food was hard to keep down and his weight was in constant flux.

“There was a lot of complete transparency, where it’s like we had no secrets,” Stinger said.

Now, the pair are on a first-name basis and Stinger’s students know who Hawkins is when he visits her class.

“I call her Lindsay,” Hawkins said. “She’s supposed to be Mrs. Stinger, but I think she’s more of a friend to me. It’s weird because she’s still my teacher.”

Stinger’s mother was diagnosed with cancer soon after she became Hawkins’ tutor. What the two have in common is never using cancer as an excuse to relax or take a day off, Stinger said.

“I like to think that I never gave Ryan an option to use cancer as an excuse, and I don’t think he ever did,” Stinger said. “And that’s why he’s continued to be successful.”

Four months later, Hawkins’ treatment was over, he was cancer-free and he could attend school.

He made it almost to the end of the year before he started to feel sick again.

His cancer was back, but this time he would have to receive a bone marrow transplant, miss the last few weeks of the school year and move to Seattle for the summer with his mother to get the proper care.

The cells in his body fought the transplanted stem cells he needed to save his life. His mouth turned black and filled with scabs, and his skin would break out in hives if he had a bad reaction to medication.

His health would also flip-flop day to day based on his blood cell counts. Hawkins’ white blood cells reproduced too quickly, so when his blood counts were closer to normal he had more energy.

Those were the good days. He could eat, walk and get his homework done.

“I could just play games,” he said. “That was a good day.”

Hawkins has played “World of Warcraft” since he was 6 years old, and when he was sick he was able to attend BlizzCon, a convention held by the creators of “Warcraft,” Blizzard Entertainment, a trip coordinated by Wishing Star.

Hawkins said he hopes to work on any part of the “World of Warcraft” series he can someday. He dreams of adding to its world with his own character concepts.

He plans to attend the University of Washington and study conceptual art, graphic design and illustration.

Games can be a distraction from the monotony of hospitalization. For him, they were a force driving him to keep fighting.

“Games are a big escape for a lot of kids in the hospital,” he said.