17-Year-Old Beats Cancer for the Third Time — But His Focus Is on Giving Back to Other Sick Kids

Photo: Connor’s Hope

“I was diagnosed when I was 3 and then I did three years of chemotherapy. I was re-diagnosed at 12, and then two years of chemo. Then, I was diagnosed again at 15,” Connor, now 17, tells PEOPLE.

“When he was diagnosed, for us, it was obviously devastating. It’s not the diagnosis I thought our family would ever have,” Connor’s father, Don McMahon, recalls.

Admitting that he “thought it was always somebody else’s family, it was not supposed to be ours,” Don says, “I think one of the things you realize is that it’s never the story anybody writes for themselves. You’re very selfish when it first happens. You wonder, ‘Why me? Why me?’ But the question we should be asking is, ‘Why not us?’ ”

After Connor was first declared cancer-free at age 7 following the chemotherapy treatment, the then-young boy’s passion for giving back to kids suffering from childhood blood disorders was born.

“I just know how I felt in the hospital and there’s not a lot to do there when you’re there for a long period of time. This was before phones so I was just sitting there,” he remembers. “I thought kids should have stuff to do while they are in there.”

Connor’s Hope

Connor says his family was getting ready for school, buying supplies and clothes, when he asked his dad for a favor.

“He asked, ‘Can you buy 30 Nike backpacks so we can give them to the 30 kids in the Aflac cancer wing? I want them to have something to look forward to,’ ” Don recalls to PEOPLE. Connor also wanted the backpacks to be embroidered with the word “Hope.”

Recounting the word’s special meaning, Connor says that after his first prognosis he asked his parents, “Am I going to die?”

Don says his young son’s question “rocked him to the core.” He explains, “When that was his only question, I had to come up with an answer and my answer was, ‘Connor, never give up hope. You could die, but we have the best doctors and we are going to fight this every day.’ ”

Connor always remembered his father’s message and wanted other sick kids to carry the word “hope” with them on their backpacks. Now calledConnor’s Hope, the family began donating the embroidered bags filled with coloring books, puzzles, notepads and, more recently, Kindles.

Unfortunately, Connor’s health crisis was far from over, though.

“Ultimately you have to realize is we’re not doing it again, Connor’s doing it again. He’s always approached it very matter-of-factly like, ‘Hey I got it. Let’s beat it, let’s be done with this. I just want to be a kid.’ ”

Through it all, Connor’s Hope continued.

To date, friends and community members of Connor’s Hope have given 900 backpacks to children with cancer and blood disorders, valued at about $400 per bag.

The generosity also extends to the parents and families of cancer-stricken children, as Connor’s family has donated opportunities for massages to relieve stress.

But Connor says his goal is not to give gifts, but to “tell them they are not alone” and that “they can get through it.”

Reflecting, Connor tells PEOPLE, “I think [cancer] made me the person I am now. I think I’m a better person overall because of it.”

“I wouldn’t change Connor getting cancer,” Don says, adding that if he could he would “change the pain he went through.” Proudly describing his son as “compassionate” and “empathetic,” Don adds, “I’m super proud of the man he’s turned into” and how Connor’s Hope has become a “passion project” and the “right thing to do.”

source: people.com