Runners’ outpouring inspires Hope

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At those inevitable points in a cross country race when Woodstock junior J.D. Fuller’s legs ache and his lungs feel as though they are going to burst, all he has to do is look down.

On one of his shoes, Fuller, like the rest of Woodstock’s boys and girls runners, has a lime green ribbon.

“That reminds me she has it a lot tougher than all of us and to keep going,” Fuller said.

“She” is Fuller’s 12-year-old sister, Hope, who was diagnosed July 29 with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. It’s an inoperable tumor on her brainstem, highly aggressive and widely considered the worst of pediatric gliomas.

“Her prognosis?” Deb Fuller, Hope’s mother, says, “If God doesn’t give us a miracle, we’ll lose her.”

Hope, a seventh-grader at Creekside Middle School in Woodstock, has undergone 31 radiation treatments, although according to smilesforsophieforever.org, a pediatric brain cancer Web site, “the benefit of radiation is transient.”

She also is taking steroids to help with the swelling around her brainstem.

DIPG causes problems with breathing, heart rate, and nerves and muscles used in seeing, hearing, walking, talking and eating. Brainstem tumors account for 10 to 15 percent of pediatric brain tumors and are the most dreaded type of those tumors.

But Hope’s support group is growing exponentially.

At the Woodstock-Ryan Byrne Festival on Saturday at Emricson Park, Blue Streaks runners handed out lime green ribbons for runners from other high schools to wear on their shoes. Almost everywhere you turned, you saw these little green ribbons.

The Woodstock running family has lime green shirts with Hope’s picture on them. The outpouring is overwhelming for the Fullers.

“I really can’t be grateful enough for them,” said Hope, who attends school every day when she’s not receiving treatment.

Jay and Deb Fuller learned that they were unable to have another child biologically after J.D. That was fine with Deb, who says she always wanted to adopt anyway. On Jan. 23, 1998, 7-month-old Hope, who was born outside Seoul, South Korea, came to the Fullers. Her birth mother made the decision that adoption would give Hope the best life she could have.

In the middle of June, Hope noticed a numbness on the left side of her face, but didn’t say anything for a few weeks. Eventually, she saw the Fuller’s family doctor, who was certain she had Bell’s palsy.

A few weeks after that, however, the Fullers received their grim diagnosis.

Hope’s neurosurgeon encouraged her to “go ahead and play that brain-tumor card all you want.”

Hope heeded that advice, not that anyone minds.

Junior Townshend Peters was on the fence about running this season for the Blue Streaks until just before the season.

“She just loves Townshend,” Deb said. “She texted him and said, ‘Do it for me.’ ”

What could Peters do? He’s back, working his way into top shape and should help the Streaks by the time the postseason arrives.

J.D. Fuller is hanging right with the top area runners this season. He ran a 16:18 to win Flight 2 in the Woodstock-Ryan Byrne Festival, although his time would have put him third overall. Runners compete only against those in their flights in that event.

“It’s hard at times. When I’m at school, I find it hard to focus,” J.D. said. “Running really helps me. There, you’re in your own place.”

Hope says she’s feeling pretty good right now, all things considered, although she has problems keeping her balance. She used to run like her brother, but cannot do that this fall.

The Fullers are praying that somehow Hope’s feistiness and strong personality will benefit her at this most difficult time. It’s not her first fight – she was born two months premature, weighing only 4 pounds, and fought the first eight weeks of her life to survive.

“We are the most blessed family I know,” Deb said. “This stinks! But the generosity people have shown is incredible. We can’t repay that.”

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached at 815-526-4513. He also can be reached by fax at 815-459-5640 or by e-mail at jstevenson@nwherald.com.