S-B student's courage inspires friends and family.

Jonathan Chimoski wouldn’t spend his 17th birthday any place – other than by the side of his friend, Philip Williams.

JONATHAN CHIMOSKI (left) is in Grand Rapids this week,
by the side of his friend Philip Williams (right) who is battling
cancer. This picture was taken during a send-off at Suttons
Bay School late last month. The cake reads: "We’re With
You Phil!"

Williams, a junior at Suttons Bay School, underwent a stem cell transplant Nov. 26 at DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. The teenage Bingham Township resident became sick to his stomach over spring break while on the school’s adventure club camping in the Appalachian Mountains. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in June, and began treatment this summer.

“He had lost a lot of weight, but thought it was because he was exercising and cutting out junk food,” said his older sister, Kathy Stein. “But toward the end of school, he wasn’t getting any better. Dad took him to the hospital after Phil discovered a lump in his stomach. He was in pain, but just dismissed it. He’s used to things being a struggle.”

Chimoski said he and his 17-year-old ailing buddy have been friends since both were students at Lake Leelanau St. Mary.

“I left in third grade and Phil left St. Mary in sixth grade, but we were friends in between,” said Chimoski.

The two are like brothers, and like brothers have stood by one another through thick and thin. That includes the illness and the November 2006 death of Phil’s mother, Mary. It’s been just Philip and his dad at home in the year since.

Chimoski was called upon earlier this week to help rally his friend, who had experienced dangerously high fevers, has been packed in ice and who has had difficulty eating because of the strength of the super-strength chemotherapy administered prior to the stem cell transplant. It has left his mouth with painful lesions.

Despite all that, the positive attitude he has maintained throughout the ordeal has been an inspiration to others.

“When Phil went down to DeVos he saw a lot of younger kids who had a lot worse things to deal with,” his friend said. “He figures, ‘How can I be in the dumps? There a people a lot worse off.’ Phil’s been positive about everything.”

Philip gave a presentation to many high school students before leaving for DeVos last month.

“It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” said Student Assistance Coordinator Sue Poirier-Chapman. “He educated the kids about what he’d gone through … and said remaining totally upbeat was the only way to beat it.”

Students from Suttons Bay have been able to access updates on Phil’s condition on patient care pages through DeVos Children’s Hospital. Cards, notes, iPod downloads and video games are among the items transported to Phil by Chimoski this week. Norsemen basketball games will also be videotaped and sent to the downstate hospital.

Once Philip is feeling better, school staff member Tim Smith plans to set up a webcam connection between the cancer patient and his friends at school in which words of encouragement and well wishers can communicate.

It’s this support and outreach, said principal Raph Rittenhouse, that perked Philip up while he visited with him Saturday.

“I put up posters that the kids had sent and his dad and I read all the notes that have been sent,” Rittenhouse said. “He was touched by that.”

The welcomed arrival of Chimoski at the Grand Rapids hospital was tempered with the realization that the young cancer patient had lost 50 percent of his hearing as a result of the 3-day course of chemotherapy on Nov. 20, 21 and 22.

“He kept saying, ‘I can’t hear you,’” said his sister, who spends Mondays and Tuesday at her brother’s side before returning home to her 6-month-old child in Traverse City. “We learned that the doses of chemotherapy he’s receiving can cause hearing loss. It’s probably permanent.”

His father, Phil, returns to the county a couple days each week to continue his work as a process server. Offers to help —from the school community and others — have been declined by the family. Instead, they have suggested that Philip can be honored by supporting the establishment of a pediatric oncology unit in the Grand Traverse area.

“These kids have to travel downstate for chemo. They’re out of their element which makes it even worse,” his sister said. “If he were in Traverse City, he’d still be in isolation, but at least his classmates could stop by and wave at him through the glass. He’s the kind of kid that it would mean so much to him.”

“Knowing that people are here for him makes him feel a lot better,” Chimoski said.

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Philip Williams welcomes cards,

notes and letters, which can be mailed to:

Philip Williams
Room 7267
DeVos Childrens’ Hospital
Bone Marrow Transplant Unit
100 Michigan St. NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

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Cancer patient Philip Williams wrote the following poem, entitled “Living With Cancer.”

Living with cancer.

Have you ever been so down that nothing makes sense?

Have you ever felt so scared that it feels like your heart will rip out of your chest?

Have you ever been so angry that it feels like you might explode?

Well, I have but none of it matters when you have great friends and family by your side
I will tell you that living with cancer is like riding a rollercoaster, it has a lot of ups and downs

A lot of people are afraid to ride but once the ride is over you feel like you defeated your fears

Nothing can beat you so let me ask you something …

Have you ever felt so loved that you never want it to end?

– by Philip Williams