Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, BETHESDA, Md.  –   Celebrating a milestone in his cancer treatment, Landon McKearn, 15, and his mom, retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Tiffany Anderson, hugged and shed tears after Landon rang the bell in Walter Reed’s Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology Clinic on June 14.

“You’re my hero,” Anderson whispered to her son.

This was Landon’s second successful battle against cancer. At 5, he was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor and underwent surgery in 2013.

Fast forward to 2023, Landon was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma (ES), a rare, aggressive, and malignant bone or soft tissue cancer that primarily affects children and young adults, usually during puberty.

His ringing of the bell at Walter Reed earlier this month recognized the completion of his most recent cancer treatment, that included surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, which often comes with the side effects of nausea, exhaustion and hair loss. Anderson shared that it was the hair loss that her son found most challenging. “He was at the stage when he was becoming self-conscious about his appearance, but he’s handled everything very well. He is my hero.”

“I don’t have enough thank yous for Walter Reed and his whole team,” Anderson continued. She added that after Landon’s diagnosis, she retired from the military to care for him full-time, as well as his younger siblings sister Alyssa and brother Aidan, who have also been steadfast in their support of their brother throughout his cancer battle. The family recently moved to South Carolina after Landon’s completed his treatment at Walter Reed.

“He decided he wants to come back here for his follow-ups,” Anderson said of their return to Walter Reed to celebrate the success of Landon’s care with the ringing of the bell. “No matter where we move, it’s meant that much to him to come back here for his care. We’ve had the support of everyone – all of the nurses, doctors, and most of all, Ms. Stacee,” she said in recognizing Stacee Springer, a clinical social worker at Walter Reed.

“We don’t understand sometimes what our own children are going through, but Ms. Stacee took the time to make sure she pulled him out when he may have been struggling a little bit [with the treatments], and kept him going emotionally,” Anderson said.

“I can’t just give enough thanks to Walter Reed for saving my son and giving him his third chance at life,” Anderson said. “I guess we’re going to go on and support him as a race car driver,” she added in recognizing Landon’s passion for auto racing.

She explained that Landon became an auto racing fan when he 4 or 5 and began collecting small model cars. A racing team was also on hand to celebrate Landon’s ringing of the bell and successful completion of his cancer treatment at Walter Reed, shooting confetti in the air as he rang the bell.

Landon said he also thinks his passion for auto racing came from his love of running track, which he did up until the time of his cancer diagnosis and treatment. A quarter miler and middle-distance runner in middle and high school, Landon said the most challenging part of being diagnosed with cancer was transitioning from his everyday life as an average teen, going to school every day and participating in sports, to undergoing treatment for cancer and the challenges it presented.

“You realize you can’t do what you could previously do, but it feels good to be transitioning back to my old life,” he added.

Landon explained he enjoys the adrenaline rush of running track and watching auto racing. He also offered that auto racing and track also provide lessons in the importance of teamwork, as in his cancer care at Walter Reed.

“The driver can’t do anything without the mechanics and pit crew, which is similar to a relay team in track -- one runner can’t do it all. It takes teamwork to get the baton around the track and to the finish line,” he shared.

At Walter Reed, multidisciplinary teams work with patients and their families to achieve the best patient outcomes in order to meet the hospital’s vision to be the first choice for Military Health System beneficiaries as the world’s premier medical center for health care.