Christmas comes to children at Sacred Heart

Michael Maupin stood in the gift-wrapping room at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, picking wrapping paper and bows for the presents he chose for his family.

The 2-year-old, dressed in a blue and red Superman pajama top and yellow Looney Tunes pants, treated Tuesday’s trip around the hospital like just another day at the mall.

Michael has spent the last year in and out of hospitals because of neuroblastoma, a malignant tumor that formed on his adrenal gland. His mother, Dawn Maupin, said his spirits have been high for the most part.

“He’s been wonderful; he’s been just like this generally,” Maupin, 31, said of Michael as he played with an unwrapped package of toy cars.

Tuesday was a sort of Christmas for Michael and other children at Sacred Heart, who got to pick out presents for their families and also were treated to a donation by Hollywood Video and the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

During a ceremony at the hospital, officials from the companies unveiled a Starlight Fun Center for the children purchased by Hollywood Video and donated to Sacred Heart. The fun center is a mobile entertainment unit designed to roll to the bedside of a sick child so they can play video games or watch DVDs. Starlight partnered with Nintendo so all fun centers come equipped with a Nintendo Game Cube console.

Danita Petek, children’s hospital public relations and marketing specialist, said the fun center systems cost about $4,500, which includes a LCD flat panel TV and movies to watch.

What’s more, Hollywood Video representatives also surprised the staff of the hospital by donating enough Game Cubes for every room at the hospital. Some 32 new Game Cubes, five PlayStation 2 consoles and 50 videogames were given to the hospital for the children.

While the ceremony went on, Michael was busy picking out presents for his family, and girls from St. George’s School helped him wrap them. He got his 7-month-old brother, Justin, a train – he almost opened it before his cousin, Don Maupin, handed him the toy cars to unwrap – and a gift for his mother, too.

The staff of Sacred Heart also donated three sacks full of presents to the Maupins. The bags of toys sat next to Michael’s hospital bed as he played with the cars. His mother said he was in good spirits, despite the last year, which included chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants for the young boy and even coming close to death.

It took from December 2004 to January 2005 before Michael was diagnosed and he finally began his battle with cancer.

“At first, the doctors wouldn’t believe me when he broke out with hives,” Maupin, a single mother, said of her son. “They told me it was just an allergic reaction.”

Michael seemed sadder than usual, Maupin said, and she was in denial about her son’s illness – writing it off as depression. She had to quit her job taking care of developmentally disabled adults to care for Michael, all the while pregnant with his younger brother. She had help taking care of Michael from family friend Angelica Bearshield, 18, whom Maupin refers to as her “little sister.”

“He wouldn’t eat, and last Christmas, my dad noticed he was not his happy, normal self,” Maupin said.

Finally, Michael’s pediatrician recognized the illness and confirmed it with blood tests, which brought the family to the children’s hospital.

Michael endured chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in Seattle, where his mother said he was the most ill.

“We almost lost him there,” Maupin said, her voice cracking as she spoke of his reaction to the medication after his transplant. “The skin peeled from his body. It was horrible.”

He even had to overcome withdrawals from morphine, Maupin said.

But Michael pulled through, and on Nov. 10 he was released and came home to Spokane.

“They’re great here,” Maupin said of the hospital. “I have my baby, so I have to go back and forth a lot. He’s really taken care of here … I love this place.”

Until Sunday, when he came back to Sacred Heart for a staph infection, Michael was hospital-free for his longest period ever after the Seattle trip.

It should still be a Merry Christmas for Michael, Maupin said, because if all goes well, he will be released Thursday.

He’ll have some presents from Sacred Heart to bring home, too.