Six-year-old Cameron Gular of York County and 5-year-old Foster Jones of Virginia Beach, both cancer survivors, were surprised with a trip to Disney World at the ODU-Virginia Tech football game Friday night. Courtesy of Denzel Barnes
Old Dominion University wanted its first game on Friday against Virginia Tech to be meaningful.
With September being Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, ODU teamed up with local foundations to make two leukemia survivors’ dream a reality: an all-expense-paid trip to Disney World together. Six-year-old Cameron Gular of York County and 5-year-old Foster Jones of Virginia Beach got the surprise of their young lives when they got invited to run onto ODU’s field during the Friday night game.
Six-year-old Cameron Gular of York County (left) and 5-year-old Foster Jones of Virginia Beach, both cancer survivors, were surprised with a trip to Disney World at the ODU-Virginia Tech football game Friday night. Courtesy of Denzel Barnes
The two boys have a friendship that goes back to their diagnoses as toddlers, when they met on the hematology-oncology floor at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters’ in Norfolk. Both were battling B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, which is found in the blood and bone marrow.
According to the American Cancer Society, this particular cancer encompasses only 1% of all cancers in the United States, and most cases are found in children.
The story began in 2018. Both Cam and Foster seemed healthy, except for the fact that both boys frequently kept getting fevers with no other symptoms.
Cameron and Foster playing in CHKD's pediatric cancer common room while receiving treatment. Courtesy of Jean Jones
The first to get a diagnosis was 19-month-old Foster. His parents, Jean and Lee Jones, had no idea leukemia was the culprit.
One dreadful day in June, Foster’s skin color started turning yellow. The family immediately took him to an urgent care, where the on-call doctor told them to go to an ER immediately. The Virginia Beach couple drove their child to CHKD, and by the next evening, the family’s life flipped upside down.
“I just knew something was wrong. I fell on the bed crying because it’s not what you want to hear,” Jean Jones said. “I felt like my whole like unraveled in front of me because we’ve never experienced this. When they told us it was 3½ years of treatment, that was very overwhelming for all of us.”
Foster smiling for his last day of chemo on Sept. 2, 2021. Courtesy of Jean Jones
Foster is the youngest of his family with two older brothers, 13-year-old Alex and 8-year-old Nate. Both of his parents are elementary school teachers in Virginia Beach Public Schools.
[ Oceanfront bar helping 2-year-old Virginia Beach boy in his fight with leukemia ]
Six months after Foster’s diagnosis, Cam received the news the day after Christmas.
Cam lives with his 4-year-old sister, Madelyn, and parents Matt and Catherine Gular in York County. Matt is a manager for Newport News Shipbuilding and Catherine is a pharmacist.
With Catherine Gular’s medical background, she knew cancer was a high probability. She hoped her gut instinct was wrong, but Cam spiked a 105-degree fever the day before Christmas Eve. After begging an urgent care for blood work, the Gulars were sent to CHKD soon after.
Both boys were scheduled on the same day every week for treatments. The parents said they noticed an immediate connection right away.
“When you get treatment, you get a specific day. We called ourselves ‘The Thursday Crew,’ and we had a group of boys we were all friends with,” Jean Jones said. “Cameron and Foster hit it off right away. They were basically going through the same thing.”
A younger Cameron Gular while he was undergoing chemo. Courtesy of Catherine Gular
Looking back, both the Gulars and Joneses have fond memories of the duo playing together.
“We were together every week in the clinic, and this was pre-pandemic. The kids would have their IV poles, and we were able to chase them up and down the halls,” Catherine Gular said. “We all bonded and had this terrible club that we were members of. We had each other to get through it.”
The boys talked about going to Disney once they recovered. Now, their wish is becoming reality.
Toby’s Dream Foundation and the Chartway Promise Foundation joined forces, not only to grant this wish, but also to reveal the surprise on a grand scale.
Chartway Credit Union, the funder for the foundation, is an Old Dominion University sponsor and had asked Toby’s Dream Foundation if they had any kids whose wishes needed to be granted. They discovered Cam and Foster had a connection to both ODU and to Virginia Tech — Cam’s mother is a Virginia Tech grad, and Foster’s father went to ODU.
Chartway’s Promise Foundation President Christine Wilson was immediately blown away by the connection.
“The more we talked to the family, the more we realized one parent went to Tech and one went to ODU,” Wilson said. “We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! This is like a Hallmark movie.’”
Foster’s first anniversary for his last day of treatment also fell on Friday. Cam finished his 2½ years of chemo treatment in June 2021.
“It all worked out so perfectly. We’re all so excited,” Jean Jones said with a smile.
Catherine Gular quickly interjected: “I think the dads are honestly way more excited than the boys.”
Foster (left) and Cam (right) at Chartway Promise Foundation's headquarters with Chartway Credit Union's CEO Brian Schools. Courtesy of Chartway Promise Foundation
Prior the game, Foster and Cam thought their big wish was just being featured at the football game and getting to run out onto the field.
Not only do the kids get to go to Disney World, so do both of their families.
“It’s not just about the children — it’s the whole family. As the child is going through chemo treatments, not only are they going through pain and suffering, the rest of the family also has to adjust,” Wilson said. “We’re doing this for everybody.”
During the reveal, cheerleaders wore wearing Mickey Mouse ears and ODU’s mascot Big Blue wore a blue Disney shirt.
“We were in disbelief that we’re actually going on the trip and that it would be with Foster’s family. It’s a bittersweet and also wonderful close to this chapter,” Catherine Gular said.
As for the future, Foster and Cam continue to go to the hospital for routine checkups until they are 26. But the boys aren’t focused on that.
For families going through a similar situation, Gular offers some advice.
“Try to find the good and happy in every day. I remember thinking that I wanted the three years of treatment to be over, but then I thought, my son would be 6 by then,” Gular said. “It’s a double-edged sword of wishing time would go and wanting it to stop to enjoy the moment.”
Abbey Crank, abbey.crank@virginiamedia.com