Bishop - It's a beautiful day!
Bishop’s story as told by his mum, Tina
Bishop loved to play all hours, day or night. He loved to good and was always in the kitchen taking out ingredients. Everything we cooked together had to have 3 eggs no matter what. Bishop loved to talk, telling stories, and making up adventures with his big brother Julian. They loved to play Lego Batman and Rayman. Loved his 2 kitties and his 2 dogs. Bishop's favourite songs were Happy by Pharrell Williams and Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.
Bishop had gorgeous hazel eyes, auburn hair and a dimple high on his right cheek when he smiled, always had a twinkle in his eye when he was being silly. He loved going for walk, riding his tricycle, skateboarding, swimming, the wave pool, water slides were a favourite memory.
Bishop is from is from Calgary, Alberta Canada. He was born with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease. He was born without bile ducts (the tubes that attach to your small intestines to drain bile). He had a Kasai procedure to establish bile flow when he was 3 months old. This surgery saved his life. If he hadn't had this surgery, the bile would have built up in his bloodstream and would have become septic and died. In mid-July 2012 Bishop was at his day home and when I picked him up, Kay mentioned that he had been taking naps in the afternoons, which was really out of the ordinary for Bishop. I asked him to pull down his eyelids and he had the faintest yellow tinge in the whites of his eyes. (this usually meant that we had a blockage between his liver and small intestines.
I took him to the Alberta Children’s hospital in Calgary, they thought it was a blockage, as we were waiting for test results, he was becoming more yellow. His blood work wasn't alarming, and they wanted us to come back for an ultrasound. I called the following day for the ultrasound and they were like we need to wait for a requisition. I let them know that my son was glowing yellow, and we would be there ASAP and would wait in their waiting area.
It was the most horrible day, July 19, 2012, they completed the ultrasound, and it was one of those eerie quiet ones, where the technician doesn't talk to you and just asks you to wait to talk to the doctor. Bishop was playing in their waiting area with his big brother, when the doctor came around the corner, I will never forget the feeling of that moment. The moment my world fell apart. They had found 3 masses on his liver. They scheduled him immediately for a biopsy to figure what type of mass we were dealing with. So many tests and blood work. Every test came back, worse-case scenario and they left us with little hope.
Bishop was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) just before his 5th birthday. Hepatocellular carcinoma is very rare in children, especially those younger than 5. Less than one child in a million is diagnosed with this disease and from what I’ve read this is only likely to happen in combination with underlying conditions.
They would talk to my ex-husband about treatment plans. We had recently found out that I was pregnant with our third baby and I was placed in the high-risk category. They didn't want the added stress of treatments for Bishop to add stress to the pregnancy. The doctors didn't feel that radiation or chemo would make any difference to the tumour, it had already spread throughout his little body. I believe the pill they used to shrink the tumour was a steroid, one that was meant for adults and not for children (they played with the dosage and adapted it to his treatment). Years after his passing, I was told that my husband signed a DNR for Bishop and never told me.
We had decided to take Bishop home and not go into palliative care at the Rotary House. If he was really going to die, I wanted all to be at home, together. This worked for the first 2 weeks, until my pregnancy took a turn and we found out that I had placenta percreta. My placenta had fallen on old scar tissue from the 2 previous c-sections. My placenta was looking for a blood source and had grown through my uterus wall and had attached itself to my bladder in 3 spots and was beginning to grow into the veins of my legs.
On August 29, 2012, the doctors made it official. Bishop’s cancer was terminal, and they thought we would have 6 to 8 months. They were wrong. We had approximately 7 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours and 37 mins with him before he passed away in my arms on the morning of Nov 3, 2012. The early morning of Nov 3, 20212 he woke up around 6am and wanted to call his cousin Zach, I told we could call after we woke up later. He never got to call his cousin that morning. Instead, we woke up to him crying and reaching for me. He cried out I want my mommy and I held him tight and kissed him. He wanted his dad to tickle and rub his back. We were giving morphine to manage the pain. Usually, my older son would sleep in another room with my mom but the night before Bishop passed away, we all slept together in one big bed. After Bishop passed away, I just held him in my arms as the sun finished rising. Everything was different... 13 days later I delivered my son Cooper, 10 and a half weeks early.
Bishop’s 5th birthday party in the September of that year was the party of a lifetime! One of the ‘guests’ was Optimus Prime, there was a magician, so many kids and sweets and colour and smiling faces. We can’t ever take for granted the wonder and joy on our kids faces.
No matter how he was feeling he would always tell me, “it’s a beautiful day”. He was always ready for a hug and to tell you he loved you.
What an amazing little man.
Our family and friends participated in the Stroll for Liver 5km walk for 3 years after his passing and I completed 2 full marathons in Maui and Ireland in his honour. Every year I make a donation to the Make a Wish Foundation.
Vale Bishop. Forever 5.
The Facebook Live video about Bishop’s story as posted as part of Superhero September, 2021 can be found below: