Boy Fighting Cancer Is a Superhero in More Than Name Only

On a spring afternoon in 2022, Rob Wyatt took the stairs in his DeLand home a little too fast and slipped, fracturing his foot.

It wasn’t the worst part of his day by a long shot.

Rob had a good reason to be in a rush. His normally energetic, 7-year-old son, Bode, had been tired in recent days, with mood swings that worried Rob and his wife, Jamey. That morning, Bode had awoken with red spots around his eyes that prompted a trip with his mom to the family pediatrician, who quickly sent them to the ER. Bloodwork there revealed that the spots were petechiae, telltale signs of a dangerously low blood platelet count.

Jamey called Rob, who was working from home: They were being sent to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. A couple of packed bags and one awkward spill down the stairs later, they were on their way. Soon the Wyatts got a diagnosis that would make Rob forget, for the moment, all about his foot. Their son had leukemia.

“The scene in all the movies where they pull the parents into this conference room to break the bad news? It happened in slow motion for us,” recalls Wyatt. “I was trying to be optimistic and think it was something completely different. My wife had the gut feeling that this was what it was.”

Bode would have to begin treatment immediately.

The Long Road Back

For the next two weeks, the family stayed at Arnold Palmer, watching their son go through induction chemotherapy, the most intensive part of his treatment. The specific disease that Bode had developed was T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia – an unfortunately common subtype of cancer that Dr. Claudia Zapata knows all too well in her work as a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Arnold Palmer.

“The best explanation I can give the families is a cell makes a mistake,” Dr. Zapata says. “And that mistake cell is now making new cells with the same mistake, which keeps repeating at a faster rate.”

Fixing that “mistake” means treating the blood with chemotherapy drugs through a multi-stage process that would take years. Dr. Zapata oversaw Bode’s case each step of the way. As she informed the family, the first seven to nine months would be the hardest – but they wouldn’t have to go it alone.

Remission Was Only the Beginning

Bode was allowed to go back home after those grueling first couple of weeks, but never for long. He would return for weekly check-ins, as well as a variety of chemotherapy sessions.  And while these drugs put Bode’s leukemia into remission after the first month, his journey was far from over. The induction and consolidation phases of treatment would last for eight months after Bode’s initial diagnosis, which was followed by maintenance chemotherapy phase that would last another year and half.

“What you are trying to do is attack the leukemia in different ways, so it doesn’t develop resistance, while trying to achieve remission” explains Dr. Zapata.

During this time, the same drugs that battled the cancer in Bode’s blood also left him with a weakened immune system, hair loss and gastrointestinal problems. It was a shock to his system both physically and emotionally, but the Wyatt family found imaginative ways to help him through it.

They posted recordings of Bode reading jokes on social media, both as a way to keep his spirits up and keep friends and family updated on his condition. Every day for the first six months, Bode would put on a brave face and smile through the punchlines, even when he wasn’t feeling so well.

Heart of a Hero

During his treatment, Bode became known more for his middle name: Hulk. Rob and Jamey had given superhero middle names to all four of their children (Thor, Fury, Falcon), and Bode’s proved to be especially apt. Like his mean green namesake, Bode powered through each round of chemo like a flimsy brick wall. His journey even got its own hashtag: #hulksmashleukemia.

By the time he reached the less intensive maintenance phase of chemo, Bode was more than ready to get back to school and life as usual. Maybe a little too ready.

“He wanted to go whitewater rafting, and I said, ‘Please don't go into a place that is too rocky. You are on chemo and your platelets might be low. You know, you have this risk and that risk.” Dr. Zapata recalls. “And he's like OK, so just not sharp rocks, right?”

Smashing Through

Dr. Zapata had cautioned the family that Bode’s treatment would be a rollercoaster at times, and that proved to be true. Toward the end of maintenance chemo, Bode developed appendicitis, with complications that resulted in over 6 inches of his small intestine being removed.

The scene in all the movies where they pull the parents into this conference room to break the bad news? It happened in slow motion for us.- Rob Wyatt

But in the end, the Wyatt family’s tenacity paid off. In November 2024, after nearly 900 doses of chemotherapy and 123 days in the hospital, Bode was cancer free. Along the way, he had inspired members of the college football team at the University of South Florida, where Rob is an alumnus. Bode was even invited onto the field during USF games and gave pep talks to the team.

But it hasn’t been easy for the Wyatt family. They were helped along the way by many organizations including Base Camp, the Childhood Cancer Foundation of Volusia County and the Ryan Callahan Foundation – not to mention the team at Arnold Palmer.

“[We] became really close with the doctors and with the nurses and the staff,” says Rob. “It's weird, it almost feels scarier to not be there at times than it does when you are there because they knew they were going to take care of you.”

Inspired by the support they received, Rob and Jamey have even started their own nonprofit to raise money for pediatric cancer research: The Avenge Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

As for Bode? He’s catching up on life, playing flag football, basketball and video games. In other words, returning to his alter-ego as a normal 10-year-old kid.

“It was a pleasure and an honor being able to take care of him,” says Dr. Zapata. “I know I am a better doctor because of him.”