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Evan Thomason, 6, with his books

When 6-year-old Evan Thomason was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma last year, the first thing his mother, Melissa, worried about was his health. The second: his education. He was supposed to start kindergarten in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala. that year and his mother thought he would have to postpone school.

Thomason feared her son wouldn’t be able to experience, “something that’s such a big thing in a child’s life,” she said, as Evan played with a puzzle.

But her worry disappeared when she learned of the School Program at St. Jude Children’s Medical Center. The school program is part of the St. Jude healthcare team, which provides K-12 education activities through homebound or hospital-bound educational services, as well as reentry services into community school. It allows patients to continue their education while in treatment and transition back into the classroom and their normal situation when treatment is completed. The program was recently accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a special purpose school.

“We want them to understand that any kind of homebound or hospital-bound (schooling) is a temporary situation,” explained Laurie Leigh, program director.

Social workers assess all new patients and direct them to the division of behavioral medicine to meet with teachers and discuss and education plan. Thomason, who has been living with Evan at Target House since his diagnosis, said he continues to thrive in school and is even working above his grade level.

By having a semblance of normalcy through school and meeting other kids, Evan can “get his mind off the fact that he’s here for the treatment of a life-threatening illness,” said Thomason. “These kids are faced with so many things that are not fun — needle sticks and drawing blood and people poking and prodding on them. (Evan) lives for the things that are fun and aren’t going to be invasive to his body.”

Evan, whose favorite subject is reading, enjoys school so much that he ignores his mother when it’s time to go because he doesn’t want to leave.

“It’s amazing how much more these kids appreciate coming to school,” commented Michaela Caldwell, St. Jude teacher of grades K-6. Caldwell taught in public school for six years, where children tend to take school for granted, but, she noted St. Jude patients are always eager to learn and tend to work harder.

Out-of-town patients receive the hospital-bound education services through six licensed teachers who are employees of St. Jude. Memphis area patients receive homebound services through their own local school. If needed, a homebound teacher will be assigned to visit a patient’s home or patient room when they are inpatient. The minimum requirement for each child is three hours per week, although some get more if they are working at a higher level. All children work within their school’s curriculum. Session times are scheduled on patient availability and typically work in a one-on-one format which allows greater focus with each patient. The program even offers ACT and SAT testing for patients who are unable to get back home in time for testing.

Once a child is ready to go back to school, it takes more than transitioning the child, said Leigh, who works with Child Life services to prepare teachers and students for having a child with cancer in the classroom. Leigh informs the teachers and parents about federal laws, student rights, and special needs. She spends time educating teachers about issues with childhood cancer because many of them have never had a child with cancer in the classroom.

Leigh assists in presentations for local classrooms to elucidate “diagnosis and treatment and what it means if [a student] has no hair or is in a wheelchair,” explained Leigh. “We answer questions and make sure kids really understand and get accurate information.”

St. Jude also offers summer camps and summer enrichment classes for Pre-K and K-1. If necessary, they can offer summer school to those students who are straddling the pass/fail line to help them make it to the next grade.

Every day is different for the St. Jude teachers because one hour they may be teaching first grade while the next they’re teaching sixth grade.

“These teachers are very flexible, very adaptable and do a wonderful job,” Leigh remarked.

Added Thomason, “I’m just thrilled to have him form such good relationships that he doesn’t want me around. It’s nice to have him be able to come to the hospital and know that he’s going to have fun.”

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