How Younger Patients Helped a Teen With Bone Cancer Through Chemotherapy

Noah Elliott was a teenager when he began inpatient chemotherapy for bone cancer at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. During treatment, he was often too sick to leave his hospital bed.

“The person I knew and my capabilities were just completely gone, and it just became trying to laugh at the little things,” Elliott said.

Elliott began counting small wins to measure his progress. One win was getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom on his own. Another was managing a shower that week. He described the chemotherapy process as hard, and he spent most of his treatment as an inpatient.

The nursing staff and the activities the hospital offered patients who felt well enough to join helped him through treatment. On Wednesdays, Elliott walked down the hallway to painting sessions, where staff gathered as many children into the room as they could.

“I’m like, yeah, I’m gonna become a painter,” he said. “Sweet, let’s do it.”

The sessions brought him together with patients his own age and many who were much younger. Elliott was struck by children as young as 6, 7 and 8 years old going through treatment as hard as his, and at times harder. He felt lucky to have made it as far as he had and to have had his cancer caught early, and the younger patients renewed his drive to keep going.

“If they can do it, I can do it,” he explained.

The children became heroes to Elliot. Despite their circumstances, they kept playing and having fun, which inspired him as one of the older patients on the floor.

“I couldn’t believe that they were still pretending to be normal kids, and having like the best time they could given the circumstance,” Elliott said.

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