GARY, Ind. (AP) - Ben Watkins loves few things more than cooking but now struggles to stir.
The precocious 13-year-old from the Region, who used to cook at the Ben’s Bodacious BBQ restaurant in Miller and appeared on the “MasterChef Junior” television show, has been in too much physical pain lately to cook, ride his bike, or do almost anything he normally enjoys.
Ben, who lost his parents, Leila Edwards and Mike Watkins, in a murder-suicide three years ago, faces another personal struggle.
The teen chef, who appeared on Season 6 of the culinary contest on Fox that’s hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey, has been afflicted by aggressive tumors on his spine, shoulder and lung, his uncle and caretaker Anthony Edwards said.
He was diagnosed with angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma and was told he was one of only about six people in the world to suffer from the rare condition, Edwards said.
On Thursday, he began chemotherapy treatment at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
“He’s already had a tough life,” said Edwards, who now raises Ben with the help of his grandmother, Donna Edwards. “To have to deal with this is heartbreaking.”
Ben, who turns 14 in September, first developed a tumor two summers ago, Edwards said. It was initially the size of a peanut, and doctors just wanted to keep an eye on it, thinking it might be a malformation of his lymph nodes.
He started going to a radiologist and getting antibiotics to treat it. But blood started pooling in that area and the tumor kept growing to the point where it was the size of a large softball, Edwards said.
The pain was so severe he had to be treated with morphine in the emergency room before going under the scalpel.
“He was in a lot of pain,” Edwards said. “We had to take him to the hospital. At the time they determined the best thing was to take him into surgery and remove it. But it was bleeding a lot when they went in and took it out.”
A tumor touching his shoulder, spine and neck has made it difficult for Ben to use his left arm, greatly reducing his quality of life. He’s unable to stir, lift things, or do much of anything in the kitchen - cooking being his favorite pastime.
He developed another tumor on his lung that’s left him perpetually out of breath and laboring to breathe, sidelining him from all his usual hobbies.
“He used to love swimming, riding his bike and cooking. Now he can’t really do any of those things,” Edwards said. “Mainly he’s in bed or a reclining chair playing video games with his friends.”
His condition was so rare he had to be treated by research pediatricians in Chicago.
“It’s super rare,” Edwards said. “Doctors don’t have an exact road map to treat it so he’s undergone all kinds of procedures.”
Ben now has to undergo six months of chemotherapy, staying in the children’s hospital for days at a time.
“The chemo will shrink the tumors to a manageable size,” Edwards said. “Then it will take them three of four surgeries to remove them. He’s just eager to combat this pain. He has a high threshold of pain, but this is unbearable.”
Ben attends the Discovery Charter School in Porter, but he likely won’t be able to physically attend this fall.
“Chemotherapy lowers white blood cells, and we don’t want him to get COVID-19 on top of everything else,” Edwards said. “That’s something we will need to work out with him being ill.”
Ben is well known and beloved in Gary’s lakefront Miller community, where he used to cook and work the counter at his parents’ barbecue restaurant. The enterprising young kid makes quite the impression, family friend Rudy Lomberger said.
“The first time I met him, he came up to my booth at the Miller Market where I and my wife sell shirts and swag,” Lomberger said. “He walks up and asks if he can trade his three cupcakes for a shirt. My wife asks how much are the cupcakes? Long story short we are at about a $20 difference in price. He comes back with two more cupcakes, and I just laughed. We were just giving him a hard time. But we were already ready to give this adorable kid a shirt for free, whatever. He is a little businessman. So he would come hang out around my stand whenever it got slow after that. Such a nice kid.”
Lomberger was one of the first in line when Ben’s Bodacious BBQ opened a few years later.
“And there is Ben. Took my credit card, ran it. Told me exactly how long my order would take. He is a pro. I keep saying adorable because that is was he is,” he said. “I watched most of the show he was on. I thought he did great.”
Lomberger said his heart goes out to Ben and his family during a trying time.
“I just feel terrible for what this kid has been through,” he said. “Miller needs him. His uncle called him an inspiration the last time we spoke. I agree.”
For all Ben has suffered, Edwards is hopeful the course of treatment will work.
“He’s super brave. He’s my hero. He’s a tough guy,” he said. “We hope he will be able to recover and live a long, healthy life. He looks forward to getting back to being able to cook and living like a normal teenager would.”
His family has established a GoFundMe account at www.gofundme.com/f/love4ben originally to raise money for an education in the culinary arts or engineering after losing both his parents but now also to help cover his medical bills.
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Source: The Times
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