James Montez, 12, takes sandwich artistry – and signage – quite seriously.
During a recent break from chemotherapy treatments at Children’s Hospital Colorado, he wandered into the campus Subway for a six-inch Black Forest ham, black olives, tomato and mayo sandwich. Yet something was amiss – the sign.
“Dialy Special,” it read.
He pointed out the typo to the staff.
“The manager came out and I told her, and she was like, ‘Oh, you’re right!’ and then she made my sandwich,” James said of Minal Patel, the sandwich boss. “Then the next day my mom and I came in and (Patel) said, ‘That sign has been up for three months, and you’re the first person to say something.’”
And so their relationship began.
Like his favorite sandwich, making friends is always on the menu for James, a precocious pre-teen from Laramie, Wyo., who was thrown a curveball earlier this year when he started coming down with infections. Although James had been in remission for many years after his initial diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at age 3, he unfortunately was found to have a relapse of his disease by pediatric oncologist Lisa Hartman, MD.
“We established care in April, but his labs weren’t 100% normal for someone who was four years off treatment, so then I had him get labs again back at home in a month,” said Hartman, an associate professor of pediatrics and hematology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “He went to the pediatrician’s office (in Laramie), and his labs still weren’t normal.”
At the end of June, Hartman did a bone marrow test “just to make sure everything’s OK, and that’s when we found that the ALL had come back.”
His mother Sabrina Kennedy said she’s impressed by the care at Children’s Colorado, the latest in a string of hospitals James has been to. Originally from Kansas, the family moved to Wyoming about a year ago when Kennedy remarried. “In the hospital you see different oncologists because they have different rotations, and several of them told me that, because James’s leukemia wasn’t showing up in his blood counts, some oncologists would not have caught it as soon as Dr. Hartman did,” Kennedy said. “So, I was very happy about that.”
James said it was just another reason “why Children’s Hospital is better” than his other hospital experiences.
But first, back to why the Subway and Minal Patel stand out. The store sits on restaurant row at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Patel manages the place, where she cheerfully greets customers by the name of their preferred sandwich. There is “Mr. Meatball,” “Miss Turkey,” “Mr. Spicy” and so on.
James became “Mr. Ham.”
In June, after James had a stretch of in-patient treatments at Children’s Colorado, he was allowed to spend time with his mom at Brent’s Place, a nearby facility that provides lodging to cancer patients and their families. Craving a ham sandwich, James suggested they check out the local Subways. “We visited a few and didn’t necessarily like them because there were some uncomfortable aspects,” James said.
Not the case at the CU Anschutz Subway – misspelling notwithstanding. Patel gave James and his mother a couple cookies on the house, and so it went on subsequent visits.
To show his gratitude – “and because my school taught me to be a contributing member of society” – James drew a comic of the sandwich shop, entitled “The Best Subway Ever.” It depicts Patel busily stocking chips, opening the door, serving a barrage of stick-figure customers during the lunch rush, and then crying “Help” at closing time. In the comic’s final panel, James depicts himself saying to the manager, “That’s what happens when you’re the best Subway ever!”
James’s comic still brings a chuckle to Patel, who prominently displays his gift at the start of the order counter.
“I really love it,” she said. “So many customers have seen it and comment on it. They say, ‘Who drew this?’”
On James’s floor at Children’s Colorado, the question is more likely to be, “Who is that amazing guitar player?” His repertoire includes “A Million Dreams,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Wagon Wheel.”
“I was practicing in my room once and a nurse came in and she’s like, ‘You should do a concert for us out here.’ So I picked two songs and I kept doing concerts,” James said. “It evolved to other patients coming up to my room to sing and dance – and I even made a friend from it.”
James’s practice of “A Million Dreams” from the movie “The Greatest Showman” caught the ears of another leukemia patient, a 10-year-old girl, and her mother down the hall. They loved that movie, and especially that song, so James made another friend.
“It can get lonely down there since most of the patients just stay in their rooms and keep to themselves,” James said. “But now I have a friend I can do stuff with. I played Minecraft with her and some card games.”
He is a big fan of Children’s Colorado’s T(w)een Zone, as well as the delivery of mail from the hospital volunteers. “It’s been really fun getting to read all the letters that people in Laramie and in Garden City (Kan.) have been sending me.”
‘When I'm old enough to work, I plan to do a job that requires no degree. As I get degrees in college, I'll work my way up the ranks. I might be a math teacher.’
– James Montez
While James will require a regimen of chemotherapy alternating with a continuous infusion of antibody medication, dispensed via a backpack, his leukemia “is definitely treatable,” Hartman said. “The odds are with us.”
The regimen will continue for the next several months, Hartman said, but by spring James can expect to fully rejoin his seventh-grade class. Given his penchant for math and memorization – he can solve a Rubik’s cube in less than a minute and quickly picks up guitar chords – James will study geometry this school year; typically, the subject is part of the 10th-grade curriculum.
“When I’m old enough to work, I plan to do a job that requires no degree,” James said. “As I get degrees in college, I’ll work my way up the ranks. I might be a math teacher.”
Unsurprisingly, Hartman fields many questions from the young man about antibodies, blood counts and the like. “Our medical team has said how great it was to hear him play guitar,” she said. “I think everyone deals with (having cancer) a little bit differently, but I think it helps the patients who really can give back and get involved in the community. It helps your soul and makes it all a little bit better.”
Kennedy said she firmly believes the “why” of how her only child – who played and sang “Better Place” by Rachel Patten at her wedding – endured his illness will be revealed in the years ahead. “Sometime later in life, he’ll look back and realize there was a reason for this.”
Until then, his friends continue to comfort him. They play video games with him and remain the greatest audience for his musical gifts.
And then there’s the Sandwich Boss. The one who greets him warmly, makes his ham sandwich to order and calls him the “best Subway customer.” The one who proudly displays his carefully rendered cartoon in her shop.
“He’s a lifetime customer – it’s on the house. This is his store,” said Patel. “Anytime James comes in, it’s our honor.”