PBS高端访谈:儿童癌症如何改变了孩子父母的生活（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Next, our weekly Brief But Spectacular series, where we people talk about their passions. Monica McGuiness and Aaron Rodriguez spent two years traveling 80 miles to a hospital in Oakland, California, so their 8-year-old son, Devin, could receive treatment for cancer. They share their experiences with us tonight.

MONICA MCGUINESS, Mother of Devin: Devin is my son. He's 8 years old, and he is the brightest little boy ever.

AARON RODRIGUEZ, Father of Devin: It was beginning in April. It was about a week.

MONICA MCGUINESS: Before the hospital.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: Before the hospital trip. He was having -- I got out the shower and I seen him trying to use the restroom, and it was hard for him. And then I told her, make a doctor's appointment, because I think he has a UTI. So, they did the ultrasound, and that's when...

MONICA MCGUINESS: They found the mass.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: They found...

MONICA MCGUINESS: But they didn't know, like, what the mass was until we went to Children's Hospital Oakland by ambulance. And then we stayed the night there. And then the very next day, they told us Devin was going to go in for a biopsy. And, you know, he went for his biopsy. And after that, they let us know that Devin was diagnosed with stage 4 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. He took the diagnosis, I guess, very well. I guess he doesn't really -- didn't really understand. He just knew he was going to be, you know...

AARON RODRIGUEZ: That he was sick.

MONICA MCGUINESS: That he was sick and he was going to get bald.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: It was really serious that he could -- he can actually die from it. And that was the hardest thing to tell my son.

MONICA MCGUINESS: Yes.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: He just got quiet. He just took it all in.

MONICA MCGUINESS: Yes.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: And he's a really strong little boy.

MONICA MCGUINESS: He is.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: And he took it to heart, and that's the day he started fighting. It was very hard just to see my son, that just, when I thought cancer, all I heard was death.

MONICA MCGUINESS: His first question was, is my son going to die?

AARON RODRIGUEZ: ... going to die? That was because everybody hears cancer, and everyone thinks death.

MONICA MCGUINESS: Yes.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: We spent his birthday, New Year's, Christmas, Halloween, Easter...

MONICA MCGUINESS: I think all the holidays.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: ... every holiday, birthdays, we spent at the hospital.

MONICA MCGUINESS: They really made him feel comfortable, which made us feel at ease as well, because, when Devin is feeling good, we are feeling good.

QUESTION: What do you have to say to other parents who are going through what you went through?

AARON RODRIGUEZ: I can handle it one way. As you can see, I'm a crier. And she holds back.

MONICA MCGUINESS: And, plus, you can't really find somebody's silver lining for them. You know, you can't say, oh, everything's going to be OK or they're going to -- they're resilient. You know, we as parents don't want to hear that. This is our child. He shouldn't have to be going through this. He should be playing little league, and he should be going to school, instead of having to take the year off to get chemo. You know, try to explain to all of your loved ones and family members and friends what exactly childhood cancer is and what you go through as parents.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: As of three weeks ago, Devin is -- no signs of cancer. He's back to...

MONICA MCGUINESS: He's back in school. He's doing really good, fighting with his brothers and sisters.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: Getting on our nerves.

MONICA MCGUINESS: Getting on our nerves. It's changed my life by appreciating my kids or Devin even in the bad times, when he's on my nerves, because I missed that the whole time when he was going through treatment. My name is Monica McGuiness.

AARON RODRIGUEZ: Aaron Rodriguez.

MONICA MCGUINESS: And this is our Brief But Spectacular take...

AARON RODRIGUEZ: ... on childhood cancer.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we are so happy to hear that Devin is doing really well. And you can watch additional Brief But Spectacular episodes on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：接下来，我们进行Brief But Spectacular每周系列节目，在这里我们探寻人们的激情。莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯和亚伦·罗德里格兹花了两年时间，穿越80英里，前往加利福尼亚州奥克兰的一家医院，为他们8岁的儿子德文进行癌症治疗。今晚他们与我们分享他们的经历。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯，德文的母亲：德文是我的儿子。他8岁了，冰雪聪明。

亚伦·罗德里格兹，德文的父亲：这一切从四月份开始。大约一个星期。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：在去医院之前。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：在这次寻医之前。他在——我洗完澡，看见他在用洗手间，这对他来说相当困难。然后我告诉她，约个医生看看，因为我认为他有尿路感染。于是，他们做了超声波检查，那时…

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：他们发现了问题。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：他们发现…

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：但他们不知道具体是什么问题，直到我们被救护车送去了奥克兰儿童医院。然后那天夜里我们就呆在医院。第二天，他们告诉我们，德文要去做活检。而且，你知道，他去取了他的活组织。之后，他们告诉我们，德文被诊断为四期胚胎横纹肌肉瘤。他知道了诊断结果，我猜他应该没什么反应。

我想他并没有真的理解。他只知道他会，你知道…

亚伦·罗德里格兹：知道他病了。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：他病了，他的头发要没了。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：他的病真的很严重，真的会死。而将这告诉我儿子，才是最难的事。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：是的。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：他沉默了。他只是默默接受了一切。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：是的。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：他是一个非常坚强的小男孩。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：的确。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：他把它放在心里，从那天起，他开始与病魔斗争。面对我的儿子，真是非常艰难，当我想到癌症，听到的全部都是死亡。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：他的第一个问题是，我的儿子会死吗？

亚伦·罗德里格兹：会死吗？这是因为每个人听到癌症，就想到死亡。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：没错。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：我们陪他度过了他的生日、新年、圣诞节、万圣节、复活节…

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：我想所有的节，全过了。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：所有的节，生日，我们都在医院度过。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：他们真的让他感觉很舒服，这也让我们感到轻松自在，因为当德文感觉很好时，我们也感觉很好。

问题：你们要对其他正在经受类似事情的父母说些什么？

亚伦·罗德里格兹：我可以自己处理。正如你所看到的，我是一个哭泣者。而她忍住了。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：而且，你无法为他们真正找到别人的那一线希望。你知道，你不能说，哦，一切都会好起来的，或者他们会——他们能够康复。你知道，作为父母，我们不想听到这些。这是我们的孩子。他不该如此痛苦。他应该去参加小联赛，他应该去上学，而不是不得不休假一年，去做化疗。你知道，试着向你所爱的人，家人们以及朋友们解释什么是童年癌症以及你作为父母所经历的东西。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：三周以前，德文没有任何癌症的迹象。他回到…

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：他回到学校了。他做得很好，和他的兄弟姐妹们打闹。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：让我们心烦意乱。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：让我们心烦意乱。在他们的困难时期，我感同身受，我对他们的理解改变了我的生活，我怀念德文治疗的整个过程。我叫莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯。

亚伦·罗德里格兹：亚伦·罗德里格兹。

莫妮卡·麦吉尼斯：这是我们的Brief But Spectacular

亚伦·罗德里格兹：关于童年时期癌症。

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：听到德文现在感觉很好，我们真的非常高兴。您可以在我们的网站PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief上观看更多Brief But Spectacular节目。