News : Thanksgiving milestone: 5 years after diagnosis, Caleb Stewart is doing well

Five years after his Thanksgiving cancer diagnosis, Caleb Stewart is well & hopes to join the Army.

Now high school students, these Girl Scouts helped with a fund-raising event for Caleb in 2010.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Caleb Stewart is merely one of 100+ Vinton-Shellsburg High School seniors who are preparing to graduate. He’s finishing his final year of school, helping the Entrepreneurship class sell its new variety of Vinton Popcorn, and hoping to enter the U.S. Army after graduation.

Thanksgiving 2009, however, brought the Stewart family – Caleb, his parents Maggie and John, and his brother, Nash – a challenge that gives new meaning to the holiday.

“I was diagnosed and had my first chemotherapy on Thanksgiving,” said Caleb.

He was a seventh-grader at VS Middle School and an active Scout when he was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma.

His classmates, fellow Scouts and friends – joined by much of the Vinton community – rallied around the Stewart family. His mother, Maggie, was working as a hair stylist at Clipper Corner at the time. One of her customers, Tom Gallagher, had worn his hair long for 29 years, but agreed to let Caleb cut it off if enough people donated to help the family cover medical expenses. They did.

At VSMS, students wrote about how helping Caleb face his illness helped them to learn to be nicer, to be better people.

The community support continued throughout the next year as Caleb continued his treatment and recovery. Farmers Savings Bank & Trust-Vinton funded a quilt (which FSB employee Cindy Osborn made).

The Scouts organized a “Crush Cancer with Caleb” fund-raising lunch at Fareway.

"We couldn't have done this without the support of the community," Maggie told Vinton Today during that event in August of 2010. "Everyone has been so awesome. It's amazing to see the support they have given us. I want to say a big thank you to everyone."

Maggie said then that so many people have helped the Stewart family that it would be impossible to name them all.

Now, she says, Caleb is approaching an important milestone for cancer patients: 5 years of being cancer-free. The treatment center recently called to begin arrangements for Caleb’s five-year assessment.

Caleb now works part-time at John’s Qwik Stop, where Maggie also works. He said he is doing well, although the chemotherapy caused some thyroid issues.

And, he says, he is thankful, both for his good health and for all of those who rallied around him after Thanksgiving 2009.