Spaghetti dinner Nov. 14 to help local boy battling cancer

Michael Grossmeyer is an eight-year-old, third grader at St. Mary Catholic School in Pinckney, who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in August.

Families and staff at St. Mary’s are hosting a spaghetti dinner with salad, homemade rolls, and dessert to assist Michael’s family with expenses incurred during what will be a nearly six -month stay at the hospital. The dinner is Friday, Nov. 14 from 4-7 p.m. at St. Mary Catholic School in Pinckney.

The free-will-offering meal will include a performance by Brighton’s Jumpin’ All-Stars, and the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win four Red Wing’s tickets and/or four Detroit Lion’s tickets, given by an anonymous donor.

Most of all, the dinner offers a chance to support Michael.

He’s a boy who, when he saw a new classmate struggling to make friends, decided he would be that boy’s friend. He’s a boy who, after being given one unique lightsaber as a gift, used his own money to purchase another one so friends visiting him at the hospital could play too. He’s a boy who entertained himself the day before Halloween by passing out candy to children in other rooms on the seventh floor of Motts Hospital.

As his mom, Krista Grossmeyer, explained, “That’s very characteristic of him – if he has something, he shares it.”
Michael’s symptoms began after the Fourth of July. He had some unexplained fevers, and began napping more. Suspecting something was seriously wrong, Michael’s dad took him to the nutritionist at the end of July. She agreed something was not right, but couldn’t pinpoint the cause.

A couple days later, Michael’s parents took him and his older brother to the Real Madrid-Manchester United game at the University of Michigan. Michael has played soccer for three years, and that normally would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him. However, Michael “didn’t want to be in the stadium,” and “stopped five times to catch his breath on the
way back to the car,” said his dad, CJ Grossmeyer.

Krista took him to the doctor the next Monday, Aug. 4. Blood work revealed Michael was “severely anemic,” and they were told to go immediately to the ER, she said.

Within five hours, Michael was diagnosed with leukemia; it was later determined to be acute myeloid leukemia.

Within a couple days, he received his first chemotherapy treatment. “Everything happened so fast,” said Krista. “I was upset to hear ‘leukemia,’ but it didn’t really sink in until a couple days later. I realized, ‘Oh my gosh – my son has cancer.’”
The six-month hospital stay “wasn’t an option,” Krista explained. “With the chemo used, he’s treated like a bone-marrow transplant patient. With each round of chemo, at some point he has zero immune system. His immune system is not just challenged – he’s without it. That’s why they are keeping him.” Michael is currently on his third of four rounds of chemotherapy. His last round should be done by the last week in January, according to Krista. Michael is hoping to rejoin his classmates at school in February.

“His counts have to be at a certain level and stable,” she explained. Michael will need regular check-ups, and will keep his broviac line in for two years, in order to allow for easier administration of things like IV antibiotics, should they ever be needed, Krista said.

Fortunately, genetic markers put Michael in a low-risk category for a relapse.

Michael’s daily routine includes certain treatments at the same time every day, said Krista. She works with him for an hour on school work at the same time most days. This can be a struggle, since one of the side effects Michael is experiencing is mental fatigue, she said.

Every day, Michael also has to use special wipes to help kill germs, and reduce the risk of an infection in his central line. He enjoys video games – especially Super Mario Brothers – and “then we’ll try to play ‘I Spy’ or look outside,” said Krista. Anytime Michael feels like eating, he is encouraged to do so.

The Child Life Team has been a great asset in helping Michael fight the depression that can often accompany children’s long stays in the hospital, Krista said.

Kids get bored without any variety, so the team helps “change it up,” she explained. Once they even found him a motorized Jeep to drive around the hallways for a couple days.

Michael has three siblings, and being away from them adds extra difficulty to the long hospital stay, said CJ.
“Michael enjoys time with those he holds dear,” said CJ. “He misses his friends, school, and soccer. He misses what the rest of us take for granted. Day in and day out, we can say things like, ‘We went to the park. We went to the store.’ I see on his face, he’ll start to frown. I’ve learned not to mention those things around him, because he’s isolated.”
However, for the most part, Michael is “often in really good spirits,” said CJ. “He’s in a good mood. He’s not totally down – he’s taking it in stride.”

CJ also praised the “great room and support staff” at Motts. Krista and CJ take turns staying nights with Michael at the hospital, and he has grandparents who spend two days a week with him at the hospital. Fortunately, Krista’s job has been flexible with her assignments, and has allowed her to work from the hospital a couple days a week. However, she likely will have to take the Family Medical Leave Act soon.

“Mentally, I can’t keep up,” she explained. “My life feels like it stopped Aug. 4,” said Krista. “And it will start again when Michael gets out. An interruption – that’s what it feels like. I’m not always here because of the parenting schedule for the other kids. Really, it’s just living out of a suitcase in two different places.”

CJ shared some of the struggles Michael’s siblings have faced: “We take a lot of family time together, and all of a sudden one of them will say, ‘I miss Michael.’ It’s difficult, so we’ll try and do something to affirm he’s doing alright.”

CJ added that when he does things with the other children – like eating popcorn and watching movies on big bean bags – “part of me is missing. I muddle through it. I know it is in God’s hands, and go from there.”

Krista and CJ both expressed gratitude from support they have received through things like the spaghetti dinner fundraiser.
“I’m glad it’s being done for Michael,” said CJ. “That someone would be doing that – I think that’s awesome! It’s humbling.”
Krista expressed gratitude for neighbors who carpooled her oldest son to soccer, and for a casserole crew that provides a couple meals a week. “It has brought so much sanity to our house,” she explained. “It has helped us have a normal life outside of the hospital.”

Both Krista and CJ expressed that this experience has not shaken their individual faiths.

Krista said it has reminded her that “I do trust God. I need to trust God. It has forced me to put into practice what I already mentally believed. I have no control. I can be miserable, anxious and worrying. Or I can trust God and be at peace with the process. As long as we trust Him, we really can go through anything, because He is infinite.”