Then a sophomore at Foley High, Dillon went from playing in a junior varsity football game on Monday, Oct. 1, to fighting cancer that weekend.
“It just all happened so fast,” former Foley football coach and athletic director Todd Watson said. “Seven days before that, you would have never known anything was wrong with Chris.”
More than two years later – thankfully – things have changed again, for the better.
Diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, Dillon spent eight months at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, received a bone marrow transplant from younger sister Cassidy and lost at least 50 pounds. The future appeared unclear.
Now 18, he will graduate from Foley with his classmates next month with a goal of returning to St. Jude one day – this time as a nurse helping others.
Dillon is a regional winner in the Bryant-Jordan Scholarship’s achievement category, which honors teens who have overcome personal obstacles to excel academically and athletically. He has already won $3,500 in scholarship money and could win more at the statewide Bryant-Jordan banquet, set for Monday in Birmingham.
“It’s exciting to think about graduation,” Dillon said. “I guess I never really allowed myself to think that far ahead while I was going through all this. Now, I just think it is the next step in rebuilding my life, in building my future.”
THE STRUGGLE BEGINS
Dillon wasn’t feeling great on the morning of Oct. 1, 2012.
However, he knew his days as a sophomore junior varsity football player were drawing to a close and he wanted to play in that night’s game.
He went to the doctor and received a steroid shot and a prescription for an antibiotic to treat what was first believed to be a common sinus infection. He ate with his mom at Cracker Barrel, then played free safety from start to finish in the game against Daphne.
“I didn’t like to miss anything,” Dillon said. “You only have so many JV and varsity football games you can play.”
As it turns out, that was Dillon’s last.
He grew more and more sick each day that week as doctors continued searching for a cause. He went to school for a full day Tuesday, then checked out after half a day on Wednesday. He began dealing with headaches and strange bruising, known as petechiae, among other symptoms.
Doctors first thought Dillon might have mononucleosis and wanted to rule that out before moving on to other possible scenarios. Once they did – on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 – the answer became pretty clear, pretty quick.
“Chris’ spleen was enlarged and his white blood cell count was elevated,” his mom, Jeana Dillon, said. “At that point, they told us we needed to go to USA (Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile) because there was a very good possibility he had leukemia.
“At that point, your world just stops.”
WHAT IS NEXT?
The diagnosis stunned the Dillon family and the entire Foley community.
“Cancer is such a powerful word,” said Watson, who re-signed in January to join Troy University’s off-the-field staff. “The initial shock was a blow to everyone.
“One thing I knew about Chris, though, was that he always competes. He will fight and scratch and claw. He and I talked about this being just another battle for him. I knew he would do everything he could, everything he would be asked to do, to battle this thing, and that is what happened.”
The leukemia diagnosis spawned plenty of questions for the Dillons, knowing Chris faced a daunting future.
“I never realized there were so many different types of cancer,” Jeana said. “I was thinking, ‘What degree does he have? What are the percentages? Is he going to even survive?’ The pressure of treatment right then and there is overwhelming.”
Chris – at age 15 – tried not to think about the worst option.
“That was hard,” he said. “How can you not wonder, ‘Am I going to die? Is this really going to happen?’ I’m thankful that I had friends and family, and they tried to keep my mind off it. But I’m sure everyone in that situation does think about death. I’m sure people here (Foley) did. You can hope for the best, but you just don’t know until you get to that bridge.”
One thing the Dillons could be immediately thankful for was that Chris did not sustain a direct hit of any kind in the Monday night football game.
“Doctors said if he would have been hit in the spleen on the field that night, he could have died then and there,” Jeana said. “We are very grateful for no what ifs.”
Jeana’s first big choice was where and how to treat Chris.
The Dillons went to USA on Friday night and, by Saturday morning, Jeana had the papers in hand to sign for Chris to begin cancer treatment there in Mobile.
“I walked outside to take a break,” she said. “I received a call from a friend who said before I did anything I should contact St. Jude. I didn’t know if they would take referrals on weekends, but I had a doctor at USA refer us and, in about two hours, they called us back and said Chris was accepted. If we had started any treatment at USA, he would not have been a candidate.”
The Dillons left via ambulance at 2 a.m. on Oct. 7 for Memphis.
In less than a week, Chris went from fighting Daphne on the football field to fighting a much tougher foe off it.
BEGINNING THE FIGHT
Chris’ best possibility for a cure for his type of leukemia was a bone marrow transplant. AML is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. According to the National Bone Marrow Program, there are nearly 11,900 new cases each year.
Chris needed three regiments of chemotherapy to kill the existing leukemia in his cells and prepare him for a transplant. Then, he needed a donor. Jeana said she was told there was a 25 percent chance that one of Chris’ siblings – Cierra, Cassidy or Cody – would be a full match.
Cassidy, 11 months younger than Chris, was a full match.
“If Cassidy hadn’t been a match, we could still be there waiting,” Jeana said. “God laid out our path perfectly. There is no other way to explain it.
“Eighteen years ago, I sometimes wondered why God gave me two children that close together. Now I know why.”
The transplant happened on Jan. 29, 2013. Chris was reborn.
Obviously, things didn’t change for the better immediately.
In fact, some of Chris’ tougher days were ahead.
Almost immediately, he contracted RSV – respiratory syncytial virus. This is most common in infants, but that is basically – at least according to his blood – what Chris was at that point.
“That was probably the most miserable 10 days of the whole two years,” he said. “I had to be in isolation in a tent for two weeks. I couldn’t get out of bed for any reason. It was awful.”
Slowly, Chris’ recovery began. His white blood cell count started to build and he started to eat and exercise – though mom had to give him an occasional push along the way.
During his eight months in Memphis, he came home to Foley on a couple of occasions just for a few days each. On May 9, 2013, he came home for good.
THE ROAD TO NORMALCY
Though he was back in Foley, Chris didn’t return to school until January 2014. He studied at home and remained on track to graduate on time.
“Returning to school was a big goal of mine,” he said. “I had been out so long. I wanted to get back and be with my friends.”
That wasn’t his only goal.
Though he knew he was too weak to play football again, Chris didn’t give up on sports. He returned to athletic competition in the spring of 2014 as a catcher on Foley’s baseball team.
“I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it again, that cancer may have stopped me for a year but it is not going to stop me from doing what I want to do in life,” he said.
Assistant baseball coach Preston Sute described Dillon as a fighter who never complains.
“I’ve spent many days around Chris and have never heard him say a negative word about his disease or the hand that has been dealt to him,” Sute wrote in a letter to the Bryant-Jordan committee. “That is not the way Chris Dillon does things. He’s a fighter that doesn’t know how to give up.”
Dillon decided not to play baseball this year. His point already was made.
THE FUTURE
Dillon returns to St. Jude each January for a re-check.
He knows that as a cancer survivor, he is more likely than most to have a relapse.
However, with each clear year, his chances decrease. He will be a patient of St. Jude for a total of 10 years from his original diagnosis. He hopes he will be a part of the St. Jude family for much longer.
He would like to go to junior college next year then start his path to a nursing degree and eventually return to Memphis, a place he calls his home away from home.
“After being at a place like that, it just makes you want to go back and be a part of that staff,” Dillon said. “It was just amazing. It changed my life completely. Even when I felt awful, some of the doctors and nurses were the highlight of day. They made it fun.
“I want to be that doctor or nurse that is the highlight of a kid’s day.”
Cassidy is fine as well, though Jeana said the family discovered she doesn’t do well with anesthesia.
“She reminds her brother occasionally that he has her genes, and he is here because of her so he needs to be nice,” Jeana joked. “As siblings, they have always been close, but now I think that bond is unbreakable.”
Chris, wearing his “Seniors making H15story” shirt, just smiles.
“There is something special about a smile from someone who has experienced and overcome such adversity,” Foley teacher Mary Beth Willis in a letter in support of his Bryant-Jordan candidacy. “Without saying a word, Chris’ smile reminds everyone how positive and inspirational he is.”
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Good day precious one, We love you more than anything.