With his family by his side and a black Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar in hand, 14-year-old Kash Clark is continuing his fight for life the same way he began it: keeping the sour notes in check.
The Bixby home-schooled student who loves animals and would like to start his own band was diagnosed in November with acute mye-loid leukemia, a form of cancer that rarely strikes children.
The most important stage in Kash's fight begins this week. The teenager, who has kept his spirits up, will spend the next 100 days in Fort Worth, preparing for a critical bone-marrow transplant.
Having already completed five rounds of chemotherapy, Kash is taking the next phase in stride and will take his guitar along for the stay.
"We're not sure how the hospital staff will feel about his amp; we don't want to get kicked off the floor," said Lisa Gann, Kash's mother. "Kash can keep some weird hours with his music."
Like her son, Gann has maintained her sense of humor, but she knows what's at stake.
Two compatible international donors have agreed to provide marrow for Kash's transplant. Although it's encouraging news, the family says, the donor search has been such an up-and-down experience that they feel as if they can't bank on anything just yet.
Several compatible donors who were identified previously were not available, and one who agreed to the transplant backed out last week.
"We kept thinking we would be getting ready to get packed. But they just
didn't work out," Gann said. "We had been told we were fortunate that so many were found because only 1 in 10,000 are compatible."
A successful transplant will improve Kash's survival odds to 50 percent to 70 percent, Gann said.
"It's his only chance at a successful future," she said.
Kash, who is in the 10th grade, tries to stay optimistic about the future, which he hopes will include a career in large-animal medicine.
"It's not scary so much, but you do have moments where you get nervous about what might happen," he said. "But I've had a lot of people who have helped me keep my mind focused, kept me thinking that everything is going to be all right."
Those close to Kash marvel at the teenager's consistently upbeat demeanor.
"I've seen grown men in the military who couldn't keep the disposition he has throughout this," said Nick Davis, Kash's uncle and a former Army Ranger.
"He jokes around and keeps it light. For the most part he's the same kid he was before, just a little more of an extrovert because of all the people coming around."
Kash and his immediate family -- his mother, his stepfather, Richard Gann, and two younger half-brothers -- have found plenty of reasons to be thankful in spite of circumstances, they say.
"It certainly has made us stop and look at everything that has gone on so right in our lives," Lisa Gann said. "My husband, who had been self-employed, got a job with Bixby Telephone in August and got insurance. We had no idea then how important that was going to be."
Benefits for Kash
Friends will hold a blood/bone marrow drive for Kash Clark from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Riverview Baptist Church, 13201 S. Memorial Drive in Bixby.
Other support efforts include:
Rib Crib, 12850 S. Memorial Drive, will host a benefit night May 4.
A Citizens Security Bank checking account has been set up to help the family with expenses while they are in Fort Worth. Donations to the Kash Clark Account can be made at any bank location.
For more information on any of the events, call Jennie Owen at 734-7643.
For updates on Kash's progress, go online to tulsaworld.com/kashclark.
Tim Stanley 581-8385 tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Tulsa World, Okla.