Matthew Cooper, Fulfilling Promises - Right Here.

For 12-year-old Matthew Cooper, it wasn’t just a dance. It was a rare chance to be a regular kid, to think about something other than the cancer that has dominated his life for the last eight years.

It was a chance to make silly jokes around the punch bowl. A chance to hold his first sweetheart close. A chance to be alive.

Matthew almost didn’t make it to Camp Enchantment’s pirate-themed dance in June. It took the dedication of a team of University of New Mexico Cancer Center doctors to give Matthew a night he says he will never forget.

“He had promised a girl a dance,” said Dr. Stuart Winter, a pediatric oncologist at UNM Hospital and one of Matthew’s doctors. “It was important for everybody for him to do that.”

Matthew was 4-years-old when he was diagnosed with leukemia. At 10, he had a bone marrow transplant. The procedure cost him one kidney and left him with limited function in the other. His bones are paper thin.

One of the bright spots in Matthew’s life has been Camp Enchantment, a camp for kids with cancer that he has attended since he was 7. But on his second day of camp this year, Matthew woke to find himself frozen in a fetal position, his thumbs digging into the palms of his hands. Matthew had tetany -- a condition caused by his limited kidney function.

As UNM Cancer Center doctor Jeff Hanrahan rushed him down the Manzano mountainside to the hospital, Matthew said the end-of-camp dance was on his mind.

“I was screaming in pain,” Matthew said. “I was saying `tell me I’m not going to die. Tell me this is a dream.’ I was thinking `do I get to go to the dance?’”

The team of doctors working with Matthew was doubtful he would be strong enough to go back to camp. But they didn’t give up.

“We all worked very hard,” said Craig Wong, a pediatric nephrologist. “Matthew’s been through a lot. We wanted to make sure he could be involved in a normal activity like a dance."

The UNM Cancer Center team’s persistence paid off. Matthew’s mother drove him onto the grounds of Camp Enchantment minutes before the dance started.

“My face was pretty much glued in a smile,” Matthew said. “Meghan came out and gave me a hug,” he said, smiling shyly at the thought of his first dance date.

Matthew was admitted to UNM Hospital a few days after he got home from camp to adjust his medication. As he sat in his bed, connected to machines and IVs, he clutched a photograph of Meghan and him at the dance, scarcely glancing up even when a nurse came to draw blood.

Dee Cooper sat beside her son, gently teasing him about his “girlfriend.” Then her eyes welled up with tears.

“He just got to be a kid at the dance,” she said. “He gives hope to other kids.”

Stuart Winter, MD

University of New Mexico Cancer Center doctor Stuart Winter considers himself a bit of a Don Quixote. He dares to believe in the dream of someday curing all childhood cancer.

“I want to be able to say to every parent `we can cure your child,’” he said, his eyes intense. We have to fight and win this battle with cancer. If we stop now, it’s not good enough. You have to be sort of passionate about it.”

Dr. Winter, division chief of the pediatric hematology and oncology group at the University of New Mexico hospital, said cures for childhood cancer will come through scientific research – something he devotes as much time as possible to. He is currently overseeing 60 clinical trials.

The UNM pediatric oncology faculty sees about 20 patients a day -- about 50 percent of whom have leukemia or lymphoma. Of all the children seen, about 70 percent will survive their cancer, Winter said.

The UNM Cancer Center treats about 98 percent of the children in New Mexico affected by cancer. The center is a leader in leukemia research and has the largest repository of leukemia tissue in the nation.

Winter said his motivation to continue fighting against cancer comes from seeing sick children get well.

“When you have someone really sick, and you have to put them through a lot, and then you see them years later looking fine, that’s really great,” he said. “For me, they are not just some number. They’re a real person.”