Youth Battles Cancer
Jeffrey Bove, a home-schooled high school sophomore, has spent the last couple weeks at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA)/Egleston, after a mass was found in his chest area.
The son of Thomas and Jennifer Bove, Jeffrey had been complaining about some pain in the upper chest area for several weeks. He is a karate student, as is his father and one of his two older sisters, so he blamed the pain on the karate. Until it got worse.
On Saturday, May 8, Mrs. Bove took her son to Morgan Memorial Hospital in Madison where doctors did a CT scan. At that time they found a large mass which turned out to be a 15.2 centimeter (approximately six inch) tumor in his chest.
The good thing, the family learned last Friday, is the mass is a result of Ewing’s Sarcoma, a curable bone cancer. That’s the good news. More good news is Jeffrey will be coming home this week. The bad news is this family has spent much of the last two weeks at the hospital, and they will be making frequent return trips.
Jeffrey began chemotherapy on Saturday, and by Sunday he had terrible nausea. As the doctors treated that and the chemotherapy took hold, Jeffrey was just zapped on Monday, explained his mother. Exhausted and uncomfortable, to say the least. But he’s in good spirits, she said.
They will return home this week, where Jeffrey hopefully will enjoy playing some video games, one of his interests like most teenagers. Then it’s back to CHOA every other week for inpatient chemo. He has started a 30-week treatment plan, and halfway through will be tested, and probably will have surgery or radiation at that point. Then he will have more chemotherapy.
Jeffrey’s cancer started in a rib, and luckily has metastasized there, and no where else. Mrs. Bove said his second rib was about shot. But the blessing is it has not spread.
If anyone wants to follow his journey on Facebook it’s called Jeffrey Bove’s Journey to Healing. Or they can friend his mother, Jennifer Malone Bove.
Thomas Bove is self-employed, doing handyman work and more, and has had to miss work, and will miss more. Jennifer Bove it not currently employed outside the home. The family needs help! Just going to and from Atlanta, not to mention the numerous doctor bills, meals out, and more, means they are experiencing extra expenses. You can help.
Ken McMichael, a friend of the family, has set up an account at Ameris Bank here in Monticello on behalf of the Boves. So persons wanting to help them out may deposit money there on their behalf.
Mr. McMichael knows the Bove’s as the children have attended Camp Eunice in Roberta for the last several years. Camp Eunice is a Bible camp that offers two sessions. The sixth through twelfth graders will attend in June, and the first through sixth graders will attend in July. Unfortunately it does not look like Jeffrey will be able to attend this year.
The camp which lasts from Sunday to Friday costs students only $100, and scholarships are available.
The camp is a 501(c)3 corporation, so persons wanting to help the Boves, and wanting to get credit for the charitable donation may send it to Tammy Boss, 4452 Mt. Carmel Road, Culloden, GA 31016, and designate it for Jeffrey and his family.
