Trina Trammell always avoided asking for help.
Whenever she encountered a hardship, the Hamilton resident said she did what she could to deal with it on her own.
That all changed, though, one summer day when she discovered her little boy couldn’t get dressed.
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The Trammells were at a family reunion at a campground in Sussex County, and they were waiting patiently for 8-year-old Tyreek. He was taking longer than normal to dress himself. His mother, Trina, shouted for him, wondering why he was taking so long.
Trina went in the dressing room and watched her fourth-grader-to-be struggle with something he had done every day for years. Tyreek was visibly frustrated. He couldn’t pull his pants up, and he didn’t know why, couldn’t say why.
“I noticed that he couldn’t move his right hand right,” she said. “I thought maybe he got bit by something, or maybe his hand fell asleep.”
Trina helped Tyreek finish up. When Trina, Tyreek and his siblings Taliah, Trinity, and Trent woke up at the campground the next morning, the same thing happened. Trina said she knew then her son had a serious problem.
“At that point, I just kind of froze,” she said. “I knew something drastic was wrong. I knew it in my heart. I felt it.”
She immediately found her mother and let her know what happened. Soon after, things started to spiral. The right side of Tyreek’s body became more slack by the minute. He began to drool. Swallowing was beyond his control.
Family members made their way across the campground to the park ranger’s office. Trina kept an eye on Tyreek as he walked, to monitor his mobility. His movement gradually worsened, and the right side of his body all but gave out. Trina’s brother, Tyrece, carried Tyreek the rest of the way.
The park ranger sent the family to Newton Hospital, 13 miles from the campground. Once they arrived, Trina said, the hospital staff took Tyreek back for testing immediately because the symptoms resembled those of a stroke.
Tyreek underwent a CAT scan. The results showed a mass on his brain, but doctors could not pinpoint what the mass was or even where exactly on his brain it was. They moved Tyreek to a children’s hospital in Morristown, where Tyreek was given an MRI. He was diagnosed with pontine glioma the following morning, and doctors started treatment within 24 hours.
Pontine glioma is a large, aggressive tumor located in the brain’s lower stem. Because of where it rests, surgery is not an option. About one in 20,000 children will be diagnosed each year.
“The tumor had been growing for so long, and got so massive, that it became aggressive,” Trina said. “That’s why all the symptoms came together at one time.”
The family knew it had to act fast. They opted to go with a regimen of radiation and the chemotherapy. According to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, symptoms often improve dramatically after six weeks of radiation, only to recur after six to nine months. From there, the disease progresses rapidly. Survival past 12 to 14 months is uncommon.
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The first few days at the hospital were hectic. First, Trina had to inform the rest of her family members. They came in groups as soon as she called. She and her husband Markeese had to fill out a seemingly insurmountable pile of paperwork; Trina’s brother sat down with them and and took them through each form step by step.
At one point, Trina found herself sitting in Tyreek’s room at the hospital alone. Her mind was racing, and, for reasons she doesn’t even know, she decided to call Greenwood Elementary School, where Tyreek would be going into fourth grade. Tyreek’s younger sister, Trinity, is a third grader at the school. Trina and her siblings also spent their elementary school days at Greenwood.
“I called, and instantly, they jumped right in,” she said. “They’ve been there to support us in every way possible.”
For the Greenwood staff, it’s the least they can do, said Renea Fouratt, a guidance counselor at the school.
“It’s just one of those families we’ve known for years, and it’s a special connection,” Fouratt said. “It’s such a rare thing, and so devastating, that people want to do what they can.”
The staff there has kept a close eye on Tyreek. He missed the first few months of school, only going in to attend chorus practice once a week. In late November, he began to go to school for three hours every weekday. It restored a little bit of normalcy in a life that was completely uprooted.
It gave Tyreek a chance to be with his friends. It gave Trinity back her “partner in crime.” And it gave Trina a few hours a day just to catch her breath.
“Trina is so appreciative of everything, and we always say to her that we are so appreciative and thankful that she’s allowed us in,” Fouratt said. “It’s important to us that she’s allowed us to be such an integral part of supporting them and helping them and doing whatever we can.”
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From that July day in Morristown, Trina knew she couldn’t face the hand life had dealt her alone.
“A mother can’t do it all by herself in one of these situations,” she said. “I was one of those moms who barely asked for help with anything dealing with the kids or work or anything life had to bring me at any moment. Once this all came about, I realized that you can’t be too proud to ask for help. At this moment, I let that guard down and allowed people to come in and help us.”
The response has been overwhelming. The Greenwood community started selling T-shirts and bracelets emblazoned with the “Team Tyreek” logo. Students and staff wear their shirts every Friday.
A friend of the Trammells set up a website, tyreek.org, to raise awareness and help collect donations.
“Without the website, I’m pretty sure that a lot of people wouldn’t know about what’s going on,” Markeese said.
Markeese said he and Trina’s other children, though, are what is keeping the Trammells afloat.
“The rest of the kids have been supportive,” he said. “Without the kids, we’d be in a mudslide.”
The support from the community, both financial and emotional, has been vital as well. Markeese had been laid off from his job before Tyreek’s diagnosis, but he started working again soon after. After a short period of time, both Markeese and Trina took leaves of absence from their jobs. Markeese went back to work around the beginning of December because the lack of income started to take a toll on the family’s finances.
Hospital bills are piling up. The family of six is constantly in the car driving to and from chemotherapy treatments and other appointments 50 miles away in Morristown. They were driving so much during the summer, the family car broke down, adding the cost of repairs to their rising gas bill.
As part of Tyreek’s wellness regimen, Trina transformed the family’s diet to match what is ideal for a cancer patient. The diet consists of organic and gluten-free foods, meaning the family’s grocery bills have skyrocketed along with its other financial obligations.
“The amount of time that she spends researching what she can do to help Tyreek as much as possible with his diet, she just goes above and beyond,” said Danielle Wiltsey, Tyreek’s teacher at Greenwood. “She wants to find out what else she can do to make sure that he has everything that he needs. She’s just strong. You can’t imagine how she’s doing it.”
Trina said it’s the only way she and her family know how to act.
“It’s something in me that says ‘We have no choice but to do this,’” she said. “You have to keep going. You can’t break down and let life go by and not try to do all that you can. I refuse to let a day go by and not give my all and do what it is I have to do for Tyreek and the other three children and my husband.”
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The Trammell family doesn’t want sympathy. It just wants to ensure Tyreek has what he needs to fight his battle.
“I don’t care what family it is, what your means are, or what it is you’re going through,” Trina said. “You cannot bottle this up and think that you can do it by yourself. We would not be able to make it if it wasn’t for everyone coming together the way they have been. Emotional support, financial support, anything. We don’t have enough words to show our gratitude.”
The family has received everything from gas station gift cards to tickets to see Tyreek’s favorite NBA team, the Boston Celtics.
“It feels good that people just know the situation and want to help him make his dreams come true and help this family,” Markeese said. “I’m grateful and appreciative and blessed by what they’re doing. Everything counts. It’s hard, but we make ends meet somehow.”
The family still struggles both emotionally and financially, but they get by.
With a little help.
To donate or to read more about Tyreek, visit tyreek.org.
The Trammell family—Taliah, Tyreek, Trina, Trinity, Trent and Markeese—stand in their Hamilton home Dec. 15, 2012. (Photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.),
