If you don't know me well, you might think that I don't have a good life. My name is Spencer Dolling. When I was six years old, I was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer is called stage 4 neuroblastoma. It is a solid-tumour cancer that usually spreads to bones. It is a rare cancer. In B.C., 130 kids are diagnosed with cancer each year. Only five kids will have stage 4 neuroblastoma. Because it isn't too common, not much research money goes to finding better medicines for this type of cancer.
Right now, most people don't think that my life is very good. If you were me, you would think otherwise. My life is great because I have three of the best friends in the world. My friends are Jared, Keaton and Michael and I've known them almost all of my life. My friends are the best because they don't care whether I'm sick or not. They will come play hockey, video game or just chat. I go to school with Jared and Keaton at Pitt River Middle School in early French immersion.
My family is also the best. I have my dad Steve, my mom Tracey, my brother Foster, and Scupper, my dog that is hyper. My family is the best because they all love me. Foster will never admit it -- same with Scupper, except he can't talk, he just barks and woofs.
I started learning bass guitar this year. Sometimes I play bass guitar with Michael. Michael plays the electric guitar and we have the same teacher. Our teacher teaches us the music we like. Me and Michael like the same music. One of my favourite groups is All American Rejects.
I have met a lot of the Vancouver Canucks. Trevor Linden and Dan Cloutier sang "Happy Birthday" to me on my ninth birthday. They aren't the best singers, but they are great hockey players. Sometimes I get hockey tickets from the hospital. One day I want to meet Roberto Luongo.
My family has a sailboat. During the summer we go sailing. It is very fun. When we go on our boat we fish, swim and beachcomb. Sometimes my dad lets us go out on the dinghy to cruise around sailing or motoring. Sometimes we meet up with my friend Hadley on their boat.
I have an electric Go-kart, which is very fun. When I was first diagnosed, my uncles, John, John and Ron (also known as "the ohns"), built the Go-kart for me and my brother. It has a cannon which shoots tennis balls. Scupper, my dog, loves to fetch balls that shoot out of the cannon. Sometimes they shoot too far, then Scupper can't find them, then we send Foster running down the hill to help Scupper. Sometimes, Foster, Scupper and me have races to see who can find the ball first. At one time we had water on the Go-kart so we could shoot a water rocket or give the dog a drink.
At the hospital, I have lots of treatments. I have chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and lots of tests and scans of my body. There are great doctors, nurses and child-life specialists at the hospital. The funniest thing that happened at the hospital was when my nurse, Allan, blew up a glove over his head, had medicine cups sitting on his eye sockets and was acting like a chicken.
Apart from my cancer, you can see that I have a fantastic life.