AMES, Iowa — Gerald Terry didn't know what the word "cancer" meant when he was diagnosed with it. At the time, he was too busy playing with Legos, fishing and playing sports.
Then, in June 2020, the 7-year-old suddenly had a golfball-sized tumor in his throat. His mother, Jennifer Shane, said it caught everyone off guard.
"He had this weird feeling in his neck, and it was kind of a big lump that had all of a sudden just formed on his neck," said Shane. "We took a look at that and then we looked in his throat and one of his tonsils was about the size of a golf ball."
The family acted fast, visiting their primary care physician, then Blank Children's Hospital. There, Gerald was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma, an aggressive cancer where the tumor can double in size within 24-48 hours.
"When we first found out, there was no time to really process it all," said Shane. "Hearing 'cancer' and your child's name in the same sentence hits you hard. The type of cancer that Gerald had, we didn't have time to react."
The 7-year-old immediately began treatment at Blank.
Shane says Gerald would be in the hospital for a week at a time, go home for a couple of weeks, and then head back. The chemotherapy treatment ranged from thirty minutes long, to 24/7, according to Shane. During that time, Gerald started doing laps around the hospital.
"My doctor also said, if you walk, it gets the chemo out of your body faster," said Gerald.
Then, his aunt had an idea. What if he raised money for his care team with every lap he made around the hospital? The Ames boy took to the idea and called it "laps with Gerald."
"I set my goal for $300, and I got way more than that," said Gerald.
The now-9-year-old raised more than 40 times his goal: a grand total of $12,380 for the Child Life team at Blank Children's Hospital.
The accomplishment made it easy for Shane to write a nomination for her son to become a Cyclone Football Kid Captain.
"[He] never backed down," said Shane. "He was ready to go."
This Saturday, Gerald is excited to meet the Cyclone football team as the Cy-Hawk Game Kid Captain.
"I get to see my friends at the football game," he said.
If you would like to support Child Life at Blank Children's Hospital, click here.