'Josh's Journey'

From his hospital bed on the sixth floor of Brenner Children's Hospital, Josh Rominger, who turned 17 this month, talks with a raspy voice, impeded by the presence of a tracheotomy tube.

"Thanks to the town of Mocksville, and Advance for supporting me," he said. "And to Davie High School and Forsyth County."

He wanted to express his appreciation for the many people in the community who have donned the color of light blue and helped out with cards and letters, meals for his family and fundraisers for Rominger, a junior at Davie High School who is battling cancer.

On his wrist, as on the wrists of many of his supporters, is a blue band with the words "Josh's Journey," two crosses and a reference to Philippians 4:13: "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength."

"Because it's my favorite," he explained.

Talking is not easy for him. He has lost a lung and part of his left leg since a large tumor was found in his chest in December.

He has been making slow progress since surgery, but it has been an up-and-down journey of successes and setbacks.

He'll get a prosthetic leg and will begin chemotherapy, but the plans are vague because his family is focused on getting him through the day-to-day battle, said his mother, Denna Rominger.

Josh's story has galvanized his community. The basketball team at Davie High has taken to putting on light blue socks in a show of support, and the stands are filled with fans clad in light blue shirts, many of them with the words "Pray For Josh" on them.

Fundraisers are scheduled for the next months to help the family with medical bills.

"Everyone has pulled together," said friend Taylor Nelson, a sophomore at Davie High School. "People have grown closer in their faith."

Worrisome cough

The first thing Denna Rominger noticed was a cough. That wasn't unusual for Josh, but it persisted long enough that they got a nebulizer machine to help him breathe. Even that was nothing new for a boy with a history of coughs.

"It was just kind of like it always is every year," she said.

But three weeks later, it still hadn't gone away, and Josh was starting to complain of weakness. He told his father, Mike, an assistant football coach at Davie High School, that he felt he was getting out of shape.

One Friday in December, they went to the doctor for a third time about the cough. It was already late in the day when the doctor ordered an X-ray of Josh's chest.

It was after 5 p.m. when the results were completed. They didn't tell Josh's family exactly what was found but suggested he should see an oncologist, a doctor specializing in cancer, on Monday at Brenner.

Denna Rominger said she didn't tell her son he'd be seeing a cancer doctor.

"I couldn't tell anybody," she said. "I didn't want to stress him out."

Denna Rominger is a dental hygienist at a Winston-Salem pediatric dental office, so she has seen her share of X-rays. She knew then that there was a mass on her son's lung, but details would have to wait. The family went Christmas shopping over the weekend, and everyone, including Josh, had a good time, although he complained of being tired.

Doctors confirmed a diagnosis of cancer that Monday. Josh had synovial cell carcinoma, a relatively rare tumor of the soft tissue.

Further images showed the tumor crowding Josh's right lung and pushing onto his heart.

On the day after Christmas, Josh returned to Brenner to prepare for surgery.

The night before surgery, Josh glanced at his mother, took off his headphones and asked her what was the matter.

"I said, 'Well, it's a big surgery,' " she said. "He was really strong. He said, 'Don't worry, Mom, if it doesn't work out, I will see you in Heaven.' "

Mike Rominger said Josh's surgeon, Dr. Charles S. Turner, told the family this was no normal surgery, and he put together a "dream team" of surgeons and support staff to remove the tumor.

The surgery lasted 16 hours. Doctors told the family the tumor was about the size of a football attached to another mini-football, and crumbly, like the texture of wet popcorn.

Days later, Josh's left leg began to swell, leading to another surgery to drain the fluid. But his leg became infected, and doctors amputated it above the knee on Jan. 2.

A toast to rehab

On Wednesday, after a month at Brenner, his medical team cleared him to transfer to the Sticht Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to begin rehabilitation.

His entire medical team crowded into a room, and he smiled for a picture with the group before toasting his departure with chocolate milkshakes.

One of his nurses, Matthew Slawter, told Josh, "It's amazing to see all you've been through and what you've done. You've had the best attitude about it the whole time."

It's his attitude that has defined Josh's journey more than anything else, his parents said.

"He was amazing," Denna Rominger said. "His response (to having cancer) was. 'God must have a special plan for me. Something good is going to come out of this.' "

His father agreed.

"He was unbelievable," he said. "He's my hero."

The day after going to the Sticht Center, Josh developed some breathing problems and ended up back in the intensive care unit at Brenner.

Denna Rominger hopes he's ready to go back to the Sticht Center once a room there becomes available.

She has been chronicling Josh's journey on CaringBridge, a website for people to chronicle their progress while facing serious illness. The site for Josh is at www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshrominger. The site had received more than 75,000 visits as of Monday.

Josh's sister Jennifer, a second-year student at UNC Chapel Hill, expressed thanks from the family. "The amount of love from family and friends and even people who I do not even know is overwhelming, but in a good way," she said.