Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995                   TAG: 9505110100
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CENTREVILLE                                  LENGTH: Medium

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF: HE GETS TO KEEP THE CAR

A month ago, Russell Cram began attending to the grim details of death. What kind of funeral service was right for his 17-year-old terminally ill son? Where should Tommy be buried?

``Every day I was preparing myself for what life would be like when Tommy was gone,'' Cram said. ``In February, the doctors gave him absolutely no hope. They gave us one to eight months.''

Then, last week, came news Cram and his family still are struggling to comprehend: The latest tests showed no evidence of the brain tumor that should have killed Tommy.

``It's like a happy ending in a movie,'' Cram said. ``You would say, `Oh that's just Hollywood, but it would never happen in real life.'''

Tommy, a husky teen-ager, wears a baseball cap with ``No Fear'' emblazoned on it to cover a head gone bald from chemotherapy.

``It's hard to believe, really,'' Tommy said. ``One month, they're telling you you're gong to die, and the next month, they say you've got your whole life in front of you. It's kind of hard to grasp.''

Doctors treating Tommy at Duke University Medical Center say they are at a loss to explain Tommy's apparent recovery, which officially is classified as a remission.

``We are not telling him he's cured. We will watch it very closely,'' said Dr. Henry Friedman, a cancer specialist at Duke who began treating Tommy in December.

Friedman said he has never seen or heard of another case in which a tumor like Tommy's disappeared after only brief chemotherapy.

``It's akin to hitting the lottery,'' he said.

Perhaps Tommy's good nature and high spirits are to credit, Friedman and Tommy's family suggest.

Doctors found Tommy's brain cancer last August, and he had surgery to remove a tumor. But in December, doctors found that the cancer had spread to Tommy's spine.

Tommy went to Duke, where Friedman tried innovative chemotherapy. The treatment this spring didn't appear to be working, and Tommy asked his doctors to stop the drugs.

``He thought the chemotherapy was making him feel sick, and he didn't want it anymore. He wanted to make his plans to die,'' Friedman said.

Brain scans in April showed some improvement, but the family didn't really believe it, Russell Cram said. Then, Friedman summoned Tommy to Duke last week for more extensive tests.

``We compared the MRI to the earlier results, and we were shocked; that would be a good word for it. Pleasantly shocked,'' Friedman said.

Tommy's illness received extensive local publicity this spring, when Washington-area Camaro enthusiasts restored a 1968 model and gave it to Tommy. Having such a car had been his dying wish.

Tommy gets to keep the car, said Dave Kranz, general manager of the Camaro club.