BonnerSprings.com

Nathan Schaber had a tough year at Robert E. Clark Middle School. Now, the 12-year-old cancer survivor is looking forward to a Hawaiian vacation for him and his family next week.

Nathan, who will be in seventh grade in the fall, was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma early last year in his left foot. Fourteen rounds of chemotherapy and 31 rounds of radiation treatment failed to kill the tumor in his left heel bone and the cancer spread straight to Nathan's lungs.

Ten rounds of radiation worked to kill all the cancer in his lungs, but because the heel bone is so dense, his mother, Frances Schaber said, neither treatment could reach the tumor there and Nathan had to have his leg amputated below the knee in January.

Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., where Nathan was treated, gave his name to the Children's Wish Foundation, which offered Nathan three choices for trips his family could take: a ship cruise, the Bahamas or Hawaii.

"I always wanted to take my mom to Hawaii," Nathan said in explanation, because she had visited there with her parents when she was 15. Along with Nathan and his mom, his father, David, and his 19-year-old sister, Amber, will also be going on the trip.

Activities planned for the family include reef snorkeling, visiting pineapple fields and Pearl Harbor, and, if there's time, watching the sunset from Diamond Head Crater.

Also, Frances said, there's one of the world's largest flea markets on Oahu.

Nathan's got other things to look forward to this summer in addition to his family's trip to Hawaii. Having started dirt bike racing about two years ago, with the help of his dad, a friend of his fathers, Nathan plans to compete in a race again by the end of this summer. They're trying to fabricate a shifter that will accommodate his prosthesis.

Nathan's school also worked hard to accommodate him, his mom said.

"Clark's been really good," said Frances of the middle school, citing PE teacher Trent Dean specifically when Nathan came back to school in a wheelchair.

Nathan said he had to work hard to make up for time lost in recovery when he came back to school.

"He worked his hiney off to not get held back," Frances said.

"I'm just happy to go to the seventh grade," Nathan said.

The other students were mostly understanding, Nathan said, except for a group of five who taunted him and complained that he got special treatment, such as when he was let out of class early to get to lunch in his wheelchair.

Nathan said it wasn't easy dealing with such comments, but his friends helped him through.

"When I'm messing with my friends, I'll take off my shin and hit them with it," Nathan said.

Another friend received after-school detention for having physically dealt with one of Nathan's tormentors, all of whom had already received detention.

Happy to have avoided summer school himself, Nathan said he's looking forward most to something he's never done: deep-sea fishing.

He said he hopes to catch some mahi-mahi or red snapper.

"I've never had seafood but shrimp," he said.

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