Montoya Family Anthony, NM created on Thu March 13, 2014
"In March 2010 my wife Erin was cutting my son Colton's (age 8) hair when she nicked the top of his forehead and neck. Two small red bumps appreared-something like a mosquito bite. The bump on his neck disappeared immediately but the one on his forehead stayed. As a couple of months passed my wife and I noticed that the bumb didn't go away on his forehead. In fact it had gotten bigger, so we went to our doctor and the doctor said, "Come back in a couple of months" to see if it goes away. Months passed and the bump kept getting bigger. So we went back to the doctor. The doctor said he didn't know what th red bumb was, so he reffered us to many plastic surgeons around southern New Mexico and Texas. Finally a dermatologist in Silver City, 3 hours away, said he needed a biobsy. Colton's doctor said no to the Biobsy and said it was not cancer.
By November the bump that had started as big as a dime was not the size of a lemon. Around the middle of November we received a phone call from school that Colton needed to go home because he was in a lot of pain. I picked him up and Colton had two new bumps on his left check and neck, which were very painful. We went back to his primary doctor, who told my wife, again, that it wasnt cancer. He then set an appointment with a plastice surgeon in Albuquerque--over 300 miles from Anthony, a four hour drive. We had two days to wait for the appointment. Colton had so much pain. I stayed up with him all night htose two nights, watching my son in so much excruciating pain. I felt powerless and scared holding him those two nights knowing that I couldn't do anything to help him through the pain.
In Albuquerque, the plastic surgeon saw the bump and she told us it was a tumor. She got Colton that day to see a head/neck surgeon, who sent us to get an MRI and the doctor did a biopsy. The biopsy cam back; Colton had Stage Two Non Hodgkin Lymphoma. By the grace of God it was curable and treatable. We immediately started chemotherapy and treatment at UNM Children's Cancer Center. He will be done with treatment in February 2013 and currently, Colton is doing awesome.
Colton is currently on the CHIP insurance, which has covered the total cost of the cancer treatment. The medication he needs costs about 400 dollars a month. We could not afford without this blissful and idyllic insurance. My wife and I did not have to sell our cars or home to save our loving son. Having CHIP has removed the stress and anxiety that we would of deal with. CHIP insurance has allowed us to focus on being positive and that has brought hope to Colton, my wife Erin, his brother Mykael and myself while we have gone trhough this life changing experience. CHIP has allowed me to focus on my organizational work with education to better the schools for Colton's bright future as a paleontologist. CHIP has given us strength and that strength has turned into love. That love is saving Colton's life."
