Come back kid

A few weeks back Michelle from Children's Miracle Network called and asked if Simeon would like to be in a commercial. The commercial was going to feature him and a girl named Lilly. It was going to be about a kid who got sick, was treated at the hospital and is now better. She told me that Corrine & Ammon could also be in it as kids on the football team.
She sent me a video to watch to get an idea of what they were trying to do. After watching it I started to wonder where Simeon fit in and if he would be the comeback kid.
Thursday afternoon we met up with the crew from KCRJ, Michelle and the other kids for the commercial. It was after hearing the script that I realized that the whole commercial was about Simeon. Simeon was the comeback kid! He was the star of the commercial, even without any lines.
Filming the commercial took longer then I anticipated it would. Oh course the snack and drink I had set out for Rebecca were at home on the counter! Luckily a dad had some Gatorade's in his van and he gave one to Rebecca and there were port-a potties by the field! All the kids had 2 or 3 lines that they were to say. Corrine was the 2nd one up for her lines and she got nervous and didn't want to do it, so another girl took her place.
When it was Ammons turn his line was "And he got really sick." Well Ammon can't say "really" with a clear 'r' to save his life. Really kept coming out like "welly", so they decided to cut that word out of his line, so his line became "And he got sick". In the commercial they used Ammon saying his line and another child right after saying "Really sick".
Since Simeon didn't have anything to do during the filming of the lines, he became the 'best boy". He got to hold a sun reflector to help them get the lighting right.


Corrine got the courage up to say one line. She did a great job on her line and they wanted her to do another, but she wouldn't. In the commercial the line she said wasn't used by her but another child.
As part of the commercial they had the kids hold up letters to spell out "Go Simeon" and Simeon held up a Children's Hospital sign. They practiced holding them up in a wave formation, flipping them over at the same time, and holding them still and having the camera man walk in front of them.



Then the kids got to play football. Ammon got to throw the ball to Simeon and play along side him. Simeon got to be the star in the game and always got the ball and always got through to score!!



The commercial aired on the eve of Simeon's 5 year anniversary of being diagnosed with leukemia, which was significant to us. 5 years after being diagnosed and Simeon is healthy, strong and is making a comeback for himself.

Just a few weeks before the commercial Johann and I had been talking about how we were ready to take another step back from the cancer world. We decided to not do Light the Night this year with the LLS. With being off chemo for nearly 2 years and having Simeon doing so good, we felt like it was time as a family to take another step away from the cancer world. We want to be known for who we are now, and not the family who had a kid with cancer. We want the experiences that we went through not to define us, but to make us who we are. Our family is really for our comeback as who we are now, and this commercial came at a good time for that.