OHS sophomore Gibson Underwood got to sit on the dais during the Jan. 10 Oxford Village Council meeting. Council passed a special resolution in support of his battle with leukemia.

For more than a year, Gibson Underwood has been battling leukemia.

But the Oxford High School sophomore hasn’t been doing it alone. He’s had loads of support from his family, his neighbors and his community. Now, he has the Oxford Village Council in his corner, too.

Last week, council unanimously passed a resolution for Gibson acknowledging everything he’s been through, praising his accomplishments at school and in scouting, and supporting him in his fight for a healthy and happy future.

Gibson, the son of Don and Diane Underwood, then received a standing ovation and was allowed to take a seat on the dais and watch the meeting from there.

“It was pretty cool,” he said. “It was an interesting meeting.”

“It was such a nice gesture,” Diane said.

Councilman Erik Dolan introduced the resolution.

Gibson’s story begins in December 2015. He had been feeling tired, having headaches and missed a couple days of school, so his mother took him to the doctor.

They never dreamed he would end up being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

“It was a huge shock to us,” Diane said. “It wasn’t like he had these glaring symptoms.”

“I didn’t even know what it was,” said Gibson, who’s a Life Scout with Boy Scout Troop 366.

Don was in Brazil on business when he got the news about his son. He couldn’t wait to get home, but he had an 11-hour flight ahead of him.

“That was the longest flight ever,” he said. “I was just blown away. He’s our only child . . . You think about possibly losing your only child and that changes your life . . . Parents aren’t supposed to outlive their children.”

Fortunately, the leukemia cells were confined to Gibson’s bone marrow and had not yet spread his bloodstream or other parts of his body.

“We caught it early,” Diane said.

Within the first month of treatment, Gibson went into remission.

“They did a bone marrow biopsy in January (2016) and there was no sign of the leukemia,” Diane said.

While that’s good news, it was by no means the end of Gibson’s battle with cancer.

Last year, he spent a total of 97 days (32 of which were spent as an inpatient) at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. He underwent 16 spinal taps, two bone marrow biopsies and one Mediport insertion surgery. Gibson had 11 different types of chemotherapy administered 238 times last year.

“He’s been through a ton,” Diane said.

Right now, Gibson’s in what’s called the maintenance phase. Basically, he’s being rigorously treated to prevent the leukemia from recurring. Gibson is regularly receiving chemotherapy three ways – orally on a daily basis, intravenously on a monthly basis and via a spinal tap every three months.

He’ll continue undergoing treatment until April 2019.

Through it all, Gibson has worked hard to maintain a positive attitude and not let feelings of depression creep in.

“He’s had a very good attitude,” Diane said.

“He’s very well adjusted and just rolls with the punches,” Don said.

Diane noted Gibson “has had to mature a lot in the last year” as he’s dealt with things that “most adults never have to go through.”

“It does make you age pretty quick,” she said.

“Kids aren’t supposed to (comprehend) their own mortality like that,” Don said. “You’re supposed to be invulnerable, right? At least you think so.”

One good thing that’s come out of Gibson’s situation is he and his parents have a tight relationship.

“We’re probably closer to our teenager than most parents are,” Don said.

The Underwood family is very grateful to everyone who’s been in their corner throughout this ordeal.

“We’ve had such an outpouring of support from the community,” Diane said. “It’s neighbors, it’s people in the community, it’s co-workers. Oxford United Methodist Church has been very supportive. Boy Scouts has been very supportive.”

All that support has been expressed through gift cards for restaurants, homemade meals, letters, you name it.

“One of my co-workers hired a lawn service for me,” Don said. “I was prepared to mow my lawn, but I found it hard to keep up because we were driving back and forth (to the hospital) . . . Things like that were a blessing.”

Last May, for Gibson’s 15th birthday, he received almost 350 cards from all over the country, including more than 100 from students, teachers and administrators at various Oxford schools.

Gibson is a very active young man. He’s part of the OHS cross country team and plans to run track this spring. He’s a violinist with the high school orchestra. And he still managed to have a grade point average above 4.0 during his freshman year.

Gibson has been involved in scouting since he was a first-grader at Lakeville Elementary and is a member of the Order of the Arrow (OA), which is scouting’s national honor society. OA members best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives.

He’s currently working towards attaining the rank of Eagle Scout and as part of this effort, he’s planning to do some sort of project that will benefit the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic at Beaumont Hospital.

So, what’s the best advice the Underwood family has for people battling cancer and the loved ones supporting them?

“Don’t be afraid to talk to people,” Gibson said. “Don’t try to hold all your stress in.”

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it,” Don said.

Diane agreed.

“It’s so overwhelming and time-consuming,” she said. “You have to let people do things for you. You really do.

“We had all these people that wanted to help us, but we didn’t know what to ask them to do or how to ask. We didn’t even know what we needed help with, but we knew we needed it.”