By Deanna Brown
Corsicana Daily Sun
Corsicana —
Inspired by her own son’s battle with cancer, depression and drug abuse, Louise Hicks took her journal, and vowed to share her struggle with the public, in hopes her fight would give courage to others.
“A Hill to Climb — A Teenager’s Battle with Cancer, Depression and Drug Addiction” will be available for purchase at 10 a.m. Saturday at The Ark, 204 N. Beaton St. The book, which was released nationwide Jan. 26, 2010, is also available on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and borders.com.
Louise Hicks is a resident of the lake area, commonly known as Eureka. She has spent the majority of her life in Shreveport, La., and Long Beach, Calif. Back in 1995, as a single parent with three children living in California, her middle child, David, was told by a doctor he had torn a ligament playing football. When his leg hurt too much to walk, they took him to another doctor, who diagnosed him with cancer — osteosarcoma, a malignant bone cancer, in his left leg.
“Davey was an athletic, outgoing, neighborhood hero type of kid, and the diagnosis was devastating, to all of us,” Hicks said. “He asked me why God did that to him, and I told him God allowed it to happen, and I didn’t know the answer to why.”
In excruciating pain, Davey was prescribed morphine and Demerol. He had several months of chemotherapy, followed by two surgeries to replace the bone in his leg with a metal prostheses.
“His depression started while he was in and out of the hospital,” she said. “He was watching normal 14 year olds go on with life while he battled cancer. And the chemo drained him so badly. Davey struggled with wanting to give up, and he went on from depression to the drugs. The drugs were an escape to cope with the illness, the scarring, the treatments ...”
Indeed, Davey branched out into illegal drugs, including marijuana and methamphetamines. Hicks had to become a soldier, determined not to lose her son who had survived cancer to meth.
“Meth is a monster,” she said. “It nearly destroyed him. He wasn’t Davey anymore. The drug took over his mind, his body, his spirit, his health.”
Meanwhile, Hicks also had a 6-year-old daughter who was feeling some neglect, and a son older than Davey who was a great source of emotional support. To make sense of what she was feeling, Hicks journalled her thoughts, and didn’t go back and read the journal until many years later.
“I realized I had never grieved my son’s illness,” she said. “I had been so caught up in caring for him, wanting him to survive. After I read the journal, I decided to turn it into a book. I hoped it would bring encouragement and hope to others.”
Davey has been in remission since 2000, and his struggles with depression and to stay sober are a daily ongoing journey. His being able to get off meth is what inspired his mother to write “A Hill to Climb.”
“It is a true story, and I’m happy to be able to share the love and the struggle that our family went through,” she said. “The emotional struggle of a family when a child battles cancer.”
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Deanna Brown may be contacted via e-mail at deanna@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com.
