Below is the cover story that ran today in the La Jolla and PB newspapers.  Thought you might like to see it.  I’ll do a family update in a couple of days.

Love, loss and strength; Sam Hutchison’s legacy lives on

He may be small, but Charlie Hutchison, 3½, a Pacific Beach resident, knows how to think big. Along with his older brother, Andrew, 7, and his parents, Neil and Margot, he helped La Jolla United Methodist Church Nursery School (LJUMCNS), where he is a student, raise $446 at a used book sale on May 5 and 6 to memorialize his 9-year-old brother, Samuel Thomas Hutchison. Sam passed away March 12 from the effects of neuroblastoma, a vicious cancer common in infants and children, after a battle that lasted more than half his life.

Liza Olmert, a LJUMCNS board member, said the sale was planned last fall as part of a series of fundraisers held throughout the year while Sam was still fighting the disease.

“When Sam passed away, we decided to hold the sale as a way to honor him,” Olmert said. “We wanted this to be a way for the community to commemorate his impact.”

All proceeds from the sale benefit Magic Water, Inc., a nonprofit corporation started by the Hutchison family in 2007 to raise funds that would enable families to explore alternate treatments in a field where straightforward cures are unheard of. The foundation’s name originated from a young girl’s parents who described chemotherapy as “magic water” that would eliminate the pain she experienced as a result of cancer. To date, it has raised more than $1 million.

About Sam

Sam’s parents describe him as a diehard competitive, staunchly cheerful, active and insightful 9-year old with an insatiable zest for life. His favorite hobbies included “any sports, really,” Margot said, with soccer, football, biking, hiking, swimming, skateboarding and Razor scootering topping the list. He also loved playing with his brothers, reading, video games, chess, Scrabble, assembling science projects and indulging in his favorite food — tacos.

Andrew had a hard time selecting a favorite quality of Sam’s.

“Everything about him was so special,” he said. “He always helped me with school and video games, and he always included me in sports. I’m always going to remember him.”

As for Charlie — “He always says he can see Sam sitting up in the sky on the brightest star,” Margot said. “Whenever he gets balloons, he always lets them go for his brother.”

Although Sam dreamed of becoming a professional athlete, Neil always thought he would grow up to work as an engineer.

“He was so smart and he had amazing hand-eye coordination,” Neil said. “He could put together anything.”

Sam also used to watch the Food Network regularly and said he wanted to run a restaurant someday, Margot said.

“He had quite the sophisticated palette,” she said.

She attended a local cooking class with Sam and Andrew “to try to match up my skills with his tastes,” she said.

On Jan. 19, 2005, Sam was diagnosed with stage-four neuroblastoma and doctors found a tumor in his abdomen, three bone lesions and 95 percent packed bone marrow. He endured six rounds of high-dose chemotherapy, a six-hour surgery to remove the initial tumor, a stem-cell transplant and six months of medication. He was declared in remission in October 2005, but relapsed in August 2006, two weeks after Charlie was born.

Neil and Margot scoured existing research for holistic treatments and clinical trials Sam could try, hoping something would improve their son’s condition. At one point, Sam was swallowing an average of 40 pills per day after Neil tested them on himself — an experiment that the Wall Street Journal documented in an article on the Hutchisons in 2007. After several more tumultuous rounds of triumph and despair, Sam passed away peacefully at home with his family on March 12 this year.

Coping

Neil and Margot said they remained hopeful until the end and continue to struggle with the finality.

“I never thought he would die until the day it happened,” Neil said.

Following Sam’s example, however, they strive to stay positive.

“The boys are what wakes us up in the morning,” Margot said. “Sam never felt sorry for himself, so we try not to feel sorry for ourselves either.”

“Sam was the bravest person we know,” Neil said. “He never once asked, ‘why me?’”

As for coping with the grief, Margot said the family has tried counseling, staying active and other recommended tactics.

“I’ve read every book there is,” she said. “But I think, ultimately, you have to deal with it on your own. It comes in waves and there’s no right or wrong way.”

“He changed a lot of lives and I still feel like the luckiest guy in the world that I got to be his dad” Neil said. “But it hurts every day and we’re just left trying to make some good come out of this.”

One of Margot’s friends who lost a daughter to neuroblastoma offered the Hutchisons a piece of advice that they say helps with that task.

“She told us that there’s no such thing as before Sam and after Sam,” Margot said. “There’s before Sam and there’s because of Sam.”

The latter category continues to expand as the Hutchisons hear stories of how Sam inspires others living with chronic conditions. The Hutchisons started a foundation with another family, the Londons, whose daughter Penelope died of neuroblastoma in 2006. The Penelope and Sam Fund has raised $2.3 million for researching the disease to date.

“Sam changed the face of treatment for this type of cancer and I hope it helps others,” Neil said. “And if it does, it’s because of a beautiful little boy with red hair who loved school and every sport and was the best big brother imaginable.”

Remembering Sam

The Make-A-Wish Foundation helped the Hutchisons make a trip in 2006 to Melbourne, Australia where Margot’s brother resides with the boys’ cousins. The family visited the beach and the zoo, went on hikes and even fed kangaroos.

Other trips included Big Bear, Palm Springs, New Mexico, Houston, Maui, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

“He packed a lot of living in his nine years,” Neil said, echoing the priest who officiated Sam’s mass memorial at St. Brigid Parish, which was attended by more than 500 family members, friends and supporters.

Kate Sessions Elementary School, which Margot described as “incredibly supportive,” also held a ceremony for Sam. The school dedicated a four-square court to his memory, complete with a painted flaming soccer ball and the words, “Sam You Rock.” The Hutchison family mounted a commemorative plaque in the concrete at Kate Sessions Park, which Margot said was Sam’s favorite place.

Sam also stars in his own YouTube channel, teamsamhutchison, where a recap video of his commemorative April 3 All-Star Party celebration of life at Kate Sessions Park depicts kids shooting soccer goals, tossing Frisbees, cruising on Razor scooters, and perfecting football spins. Several of Sam’s relatives, nurses, teachers and friends also share special memories of his life.

“There were hundreds of kids laughing and playing and enjoying the outdoors, and that’s exactly what Sam would have wanted,” Neil said. “Sam always wanted to be an all-star, and he was.”

To learn more about Sam’s story, visit teamsam.com. To contribute to the Magic Water Foundation, visit www.magicwater.org.