A childhood cancer survivor's story

IN MOST WAYS, Alex Potter is your run-of-the-mill college junior: He's 21, studies marketing at St. Joseph's University, and isn't sure what he wants to do with his life after graduation.

And like many other young adults, he is enmeshed in the ordeal of having his impacted wisdom teeth removed.

Here's how he differs from others his age. As a child, Potter endured a year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer, opening him up to serious complications, even from everyday procedures like dental surgery.

To prepare his jaw bone to withstand his wisdom tooth removal late last month, he had to kill time in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for 2½ hours a day for 20 consecutive days. Following the surgery, he needed 10 more sessions in the tank, which looks like a submarine and gives the sensation of being 33 feet below sea level.

Yesterday was his last session. "As soon as my mouth gets better, I'll be relieved," Potter said.

Potter's life was set on its trajectory toward the oxygen chamber at age 10, when he came down with what doctors thought to be no more than a cold.

Doctors were ready to remove his tonsils when they took a CAT scan and discovered something much worse. The fourth-grader at St. Gabriel School in Norwood had rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancerous tumor that develops in the soft tissues of the body, such as tendons, muscles and connective tissues. He had tumors in his head, neck and spine.

"I was really upset," Potter said. "I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to school, and I didn't want to be far behind my friends."

He began his treatment immediately at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. For a year, he underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

"I didn't want to do it but I had to. As soon as I started feeling better I would have to go back and get chemo again."

But he kept at it. About a year later, the tumors dissipated. He was a survivor.

Potter skipped school to get through the therapy, but managed to keep up with his class.He rejoined his classmates for fifth grade.

Facing new challenges

Potter's cancer has been in remission for 11 years. He returns to CHOP every year for an annual check-up, and he also needs to check in with cancer-survivorship specialists before routine health procedures, like dental work.

His wisdom teeth were a special challenge because the radiation he received during his cancer treatments left him with serious dental problems. Not only did it make Potter more susceptible to cavities, it reduced the density of his bones and teeth.

"In patients who've had radiation before, it's not the simple pull-your-teeth-out-and-go-home kind of thing," said Dr. Christopher Logue, a staff physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who oversaw Potter's oxygen treatments before and after his teeth came out.

"In about 30 to 40 percent of those patients, if you pull the teeth out, the jaw bone just dies right underneath." The hyperbaric oxygen therapy supplies extra oxygen at increased pressure, improving the odds for keeping the jaw healthy to better than 95 percent.

Potter met Tuesday with his oral surgeon, who said his recovery was looking good. After school lets out, he's anticipating some day trips to the Jersey shore, and he has a road trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame planned with friends.

He'll be taking his tonsils with him. Those are still intact. *