JACKSON, MI -- Metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Three words 7-year-old Gerald Cleunion couldn't pronounce, but changed his life forever.
Smiling through it all
While Gerald fights his rare, aggressive cancer, his brother Gavin, 5, does therapy for his autism.
Maggie is a stay-at-home mom, constantly tending to both her boys. Terry broke his back when a Consumers Energy pole he was working on snapped and fell on him, and is unable to return to work.
Their home, situated on a large plot of wildflower-speckled land the family used for farming, is three months away from foreclosure. The trips back and forth to hospitals are expensive, and the medical bills are mounting.
And yet, the Cleunion family is almost always smiling. Terry's jeans constantly have a kid hanging from them, and Maggie makes a point to laugh at every one of her boys' jokes.
The house is strewn with toys, Pokemon cards and Angry Birds stuffed animals. Squeals of laughter and the thump-thump of scampering feet echo throughout the home.
"It's well-lived in," Maggie says as she shuffles an array of action figures into a pile.
Before the cancer, the kids only ate organic foods, had limited TV time, and were always made to pick up their toys.
Living with cancer makes it harder to enforce those rules, Maggie said, but the family does their best to prepare the kids for school and teach them to value kindness, positivity and family.
"We just try to smile and enjoy everything," she said. "It's just made us realize how us as adults, we worry about so many stupid things in life. ... You just don't know what is going to happen."
And the Cleunion family really doesn't know what is going to happen. Gerald's cancer is rare, and spreads throughout much of his body. Survival rates for children with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma can be anywhere from 20 to 40 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
There is good news, however -- Gerald's cancer is responding to his intensive chemotherapy treatments. He's slowly regaining use of his legs. He's putting up a good fight.
"I want to keep enjoying my kids," Maggie said. "And I want to show them how to handle stressful situations. I want them to know what to do, and to always be kind and to always smile and not to worry about nothing. Just live day by day."
Sometimes, she said, they live hour by hour, as doctors appointments, Gerald's health and their own well-being continue to change. Maggie and Terry go back and forth between belly-laughing with their kids and wiping away each other's tears.
And while there is a lot of grief mixed in with the IV bags, syringes and pill bottles that line the dressers and shelves of their home, there are so many more smiles. Especially from Gerald.
"I'd like to think it's because we parented right for a little bit, but he's just such a genuine, pure soul, I don't think he's got it in him to fail," Terry said. "No matter what they throw at that kid, the worst of the worst chemos, he finds a way to smile. Every time."
You can follow along with Gerald's fight against cancer on his Facebook Page, or support his family's medical expenses on their GoFundMe Page.