Boy survives illness, vows to join NBA

Nine-year-old Dallas Fox came close to death's door less than two years ago when lesions formed on his brain -- a reaction to treatment for the kidney transplant he received when he was only 4. \nLast week, Dallas played in his first basketball game, running toward whomever had the ball like the rest of the players and leaving Bloomington's Boys and Girls Club gym with his first assist.\nYou would never know he had already relearned how to walk twice, his grandmother, Cynthia Moories, said, referring to the two life-threatening medical situations -- a kidney transplant and a surgery for his brain lesions -- from which Dallas has recovered.\nOnly in third grade, Dallas has had plenty of scares and the scars to prove it, but he doesn't think about where he's been as much as where he is going. In fact, in his eyes, even last week's game was only the first step toward playing professionally someday -- one of the many goals he said he plans to accomplish in his lifetime.\n"I never give up," he said. \nDallas's mother, Hillary Fox, said she can't help thinking about her son's close calls, though, especially because she was his kidney donor. \nWhen Dallas was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, which occurs when kidney filters don't function properly, Fox was concerned about having to wait too long for a transplant operation. \n"You give your child life, and you don't want it ending at 4 years old," she said.\nFox moved Dallas from Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, determined to do everything possible to help her son.\nHer next step was to find out if she or her husband, Andrew Fox, a produce manager at O'Malia's, were donor matches for Dallas. They both matched and decided Hillary would be the donor. In August 2000, doctors at Cincinnati Children's performed the transplant.\nFor his other surgeries, Hillary said, she had been there with Dallas, which is probably why he remembers she wasn't with him. She was recovering from her own operation.\n"The only thing I hope is that my son knows how much I love him."\nShe can't imagine that other mothers wouldn't donate for their children as well; "you can't take it with you," she said.\nThis mother and son are a life-saving team. Before the transplant, Dallas had already helped save her life, Hillary said. Dallas answered the phone one day when Moories called, and he told her his mother could not go to work and was not feeling well. \nMoories, who works at T.I.S. Bookstore with Hillary, her daughter, left to check on Hillary. When Moories arrived, she found Hillary so dehydrated from a preliminary surgery for the transplant that her organs were shutting down, Hillary said. Moories took her to the hospital, where she recovered.\nAfter the transplant, Dallas and his family thought they were clear of any major problems for the next four years, until his birthday last summer when he developed an extremely bad headache.\n"He said it felt like aliens were eating his brain," Moories said.\nThose "aliens" turned out to be lesions that had developed on his brain after being exposed to mononucleosis, which reacted to the anti-rejection drugs Dallas took. His immune system was too weak to fight the infection, Hillary said.\nDallas remembers being disappointed that it ruined his birthday. \n"I didn't hardly eat any of my cake or my ice cream," Dallas said. Plus all his friends had to go home. Fox, more worried than ever, she said, took Dallas back to Cincinnati Children's where Dallas earned another scar -- this one on his head -- during a surgery to determine the cause of his headaches.\nToday, the lesions are shrinking with treatment, and Dallas might as well have never been sick, judging from his long list of activities. Not only is he a student at Summit Elementary School, but he is also involved in Cub Scouts, a volunteer group called "The Joes," Soul's Harbor Apostolic Church and his basketball team.\nHe regularly returns to Cincinnati Children's for checkups, but his predictions give no hint of future limitations.\n"Let's see ..." he began, mentally pulling up the list of things he wants to do when he grows up: a NASCAR driver, a soldier, the president, an archaeologist, a movie star, a professional basketball player and "a very good hunter, like Daddy."\nMoories said she looks forward to what her grandson's future might hold. \n"He has a will to live," she said. "He's been on death's door so many times. Dallas is here for a reason, and we're sure glad he is."\nFox also maintains her hope for the future.\n"I think things are just going to work out for us," she said. "For some reason, it always does."\nDallas Fox has a campaign through the Children's Organ Transplant Association to assist with raising money to cover his medical expenses. Currently, Dallas needs close to $80,000, according to Hillary, who is managing her son's campaign. Contact Hillary Fox at 330-9212 or at hillaryfox2000@yahoo.com.