Photo courtesy of Denis McGill.
0512 Sean Fredella
Sean Fredella served on the honorary crew for the Racing for Children’s car at the Honda Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports in March.
Sean Fredella was back at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston in mid-April, but this time the news was remarkably good. A story about the blue bows encouraging Sean in his fight against cancer ran in the January Village Living.
“Scans revealed that the tumor was gone, which was great news,” said his mom, Nell Fredella.
Sean had surgery in April to remove any potential remnants of the tumor, and he came through that with flying colors.
He had undergone five brutal sessions of chemotherapy earlier this year in an effort to reduce the tumor in his head. If the treatment goes according to plan, the next step for Sean is to undergo six weeks of radiation at MD Anderson.
Sean has been busy in Birmingham this spring. At the end of March, he rode around the Barber Motorsport track in a Porsche; he and Fuller Goldsmith of Tuscaloosa served as honorary crew chiefs for the Racing for Children’s car.
In honor of Sean, the Fredellas created the SEANstrong Fund at Children’s of Alabama. This account is used to financially help families of children who are battling cancer. Donations from the blue bows, T-shirts and wristbands all go to assist patients from the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s of Alabama.
The community continues to be remarkable, according to Nell. POSH of Birmingham sponsored an event recently, and half the proceeds went to the SEANstrong Foundation with the other half going to the American Cancer Society.
The Mountain Brook High School baseball program honored Sean at their game last month against Homewood. Sean threw out the opening pitch, and donations were taken up for the SEANstrong Fund at Children’s of Alabama.
Mountain Brook Elementary school also had several SEANstrong teams in the Relay for Life event. Sean had to miss this year’s event because he was recovering from surgery in Houston.
“Sean’s ready to get back home and get on with his life,” said Nell. He’s looking forward to attending an upcoming Camp Smile-a-Mile event.
Sean has kept up in school through homebound schooling with the help of Susan Logan from Mountain Brook Elementary. He also attended school on good days while he was going through chemotherapy, which allowed him to keep up with his friends.
Sean also wants a puppy, but Nell said she’s not real excited about that development. “I was hoping to catch a break and have a little bit of a lull in my life,” she said with a smile.
