Facebook, miracles happen

August 31, 2010

(left to right) Raymond McCallum, Connor Scott, and Jeff Gibson. Connor receives his honorary black belt.

Imagine being the loved one of an eight year old child and the child looks up at you and says he knows he's about to die. Thats what the friends and family of Connor Scott were faced with in July after the first bone marrow transplant didn't take. Scott is an eight year old boy from Poteau and Bokoshe that was diagnosed with leukemia in November of 2008. After he was diagnosed, he went into remission but the cancer came back in January of this year. Scott has been to St. Judes, Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock and is currently in San Antonio recovering from his second bone marrow transplant.
Facebook is a very powerful social networking tool but Jeff Gibson thinks it was a means to share a higher power. Amy Herrera, Scott's mother, started a facebook page for Scott to keep up with his friends and family while he was in the hospital. When Gibson heard how sick Scott had been he started a facebook prayer chain. Scott only had a handful of friends, but within a few weeks he had over 700 friend requests of people that had promised to pray for him from all over the country. “It touches us to know that so many people care and that our story reached them,” stated Herrera.
The doctors had given Scott a five percent chance of surviving after the first transplant failed. The day the prayer chain was started, Scott started out with a 104 degree fever, stated Gibson. “A couple of hours after we started the prayer chain, the fever broke and he was beginning to eat again.” The second round of treatment went well and within a few weeks, scott went from having a five percent chance of survival to a 99 percent chance that the cancer would not return. “The power of prayer is amazing,” stated Gibson.
Scott has always been interested in the martial arts, his mother said, and Gibson, along with a previous world middle weight kick boxing champion, Raymond McCallum, went to see Scott in San Antonio and made him an honorary black belt. Scott's dad, Dustin Urchison, stated in an interview with Fox News that he planned to help Scott earn his real black belt when he finally gets out of the hospital. Friends and family hope that Scott will be home by October, return to school and live life like a normal child again.
You can find Connor by logging on to facebook and typing in his name. “My name is Connor and I am 8 years old. My Mom is Amy Harris Herrera and My Dad is Dustin Urchison. I was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in November 2008. I relapsed in February of 2010. I go to Arkansas Children Hospital for my treatments. I like to play my DSI, ride bikes, go swimming and fishing, and go to the movies. I also like pirates, treasure, places that look like they have treasure in them(lol), and traveling! I also like magic and try to do magic tricks. I still believe that magic is real! I would like very much for you to send me letters, cards, pictures, whatever you think will cheer me up! Mom says NO MONEY! My address is Connor Scott C/O Amy Herrera 210 Oak St. #313 Poteau, OK 74953.I also have a myspace page, it is www.myspace.com/connors_journey. Mom says to keep it age appropriate and positive!”
Connor and his family appreciate any encouragement that is sent to him in anyway and Herrera said “We would like to thank everybody, Jeff and Raymond for the black belt and everyone else for your thoughts and prayers. It really touches our hearts.”