"If you excuse me — I can show you my deck," Arthur says, darting upstairs. Moments later, he returns with a stack of Pokémon cards 5 inches high.

"This is Code Breaker," he explains. "It puts two of any card on top of your deck. It's handy."

As he shuffles through the stack, explaining each card, it's clear that he's become something of an expert.

At just 5 years old, Arthur has been battling neuroblastoma — a cancer most common in children 5 and younger — since he was 2½ years old. His love for Pokémon has been his superpower, lifting his spirits as he battles what no child should ever have to face.

It started when Arthur had pneumonia, which continued to land him in the emergency department in his hometown. He began complaining about his leg when it started swelling, and his belly became firm.

"I called my mom and told her an internet search says it's cancer. We took him in, and, sure enough, it was cancer," says Freya Heyer, Arthur's mom.

The tumor was crushing the bottom of his right lung, so he went on breathing support and eventually extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a machine which pulls blood out of the body, reoxygenates it and puts it back in. The care team at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, also performed a tracheotomy for breathing, which is where surgeons place a small tube in a hole that they make through the front of the neck and into the windpipe. "It was terrifying," recalls Freya. "They pulled us aside at one point and asked me to decide on an acceptable quality of life for him."

After extensive treatment, Arthur went into remission for a year and was taking medication to prevent the cancer from coming back. "A few months later, we discovered that the cancer had moved to his brain and is now terminal," says Freya.

Freya, and Arthur's other parent, Tyler, took him back to Mayo Clinic for treatment so they could spend as much time with him as possible. For Arthur, staying at the pediatric hospital is fun, with unlimited popsicles and ice cream, magic shows, tons of movies, a rolling video game cart, and therapy dogs.

"I like when I get to go," says Arthur. "I get to crack stones and find gems with PT and OT. I like getting to play video games. I have loads of friends." And when he says friends, he's referring to the incredible Mayo Clinic Children's Center care team — his nurses, child life specialists, therapists — and other pediatric patients. Because his initial cancer diagnosis was at such a young age, Arthur hasn't had the chance to make many friends outside of the hospital.

One particular friend he made during his time at Mayo was the one who helped him discover his love for Pokémon.

A new friend ignites a passion

Kevin Pike is a security ambassador at Mayo Clinic, running weapon detection systems and verifying patient visitors. "I frequently see kids coming through for appointments or to visit patients," says Pike.

As a serious Pokémon player, Pike enjoys buying Pokémon card packs. Only a few cards in each pack are rare enough to keep, while the rest — known as bulk — are often set aside. But these bulk cards are perfect for kids in the hospital who are just learning the game.

"I started making little packs to hand out to kids so I could shrink down my bulk collection," recalls Pike. One day, as Arthur passed through, Pike offered him a deck of cards, which he gladly accepted. "I learned what he was facing and asked if I could visit him."  

Once Pike learned what Arthur was facing, he asked if he could stop in to play cards with him during his lunch breaks from time to time, as he does with other patients. Arthur and Pike became fast friends, and Arthur dove headfirst into the world of Pokémon.

"The gift that Arthur got with that first deck changed his life. Pokémon became something constant and something to look forward to every time we go to Rochester," says Freya.

And Pokémon has taught Arthur skills beyond a new game. "When he started playing Pokémon, he couldn't read," says Freya. "But now he can."

Make-A-Wish Minnesota party

Knowing his illness is terminal, the social work team referred Arthur's family to Make-A-Wish Minnesota to bring Arthur some extra special joy. In Arthur's five years, he's lived a simple life — much of it in the hospital — so the family didn’t want an extravagant wish. To share his love for Pokémon, Arthur and his parents decided to host a Pokémon party for his friends at Mayo Clinic.

Make-A-Wish provided funds for Arthur to plan the Pokémon party at the Children’s Center, as well as a pizza party for him and his family — and the chance to crack 100 Pokémon packs.

The community came together to support the wish and greatly surpassed Arthur and Freya's Make-A-Wish expectations:

• Arthur's aunt Liz sought community donations of bulk cards or new card packs, and over 1,000 packs were collected.
• David and Travis, Arthur's buddies at Coulee Cards in Rochester, helped make packs for the party and gave a deep discount on purchased supplies.
• Travis connected with Pokémon Corporation and arranged to get free Pikachu plushies.
• Rachel, their Make-A-Wish coordinator, contacted the Pokémon Squishmallows parent company, and they sent over 100 Pokémon plushies.
• They held the pizza party at Tilda's Pizzeria in Rochester because of its robotic waiter. The staff decorated the robot to look like a Pikachu, with a face, ears and tail. It made Pikachu noises as it delivered pizza to Arthur and his guests.

During the Pokémon party, Arthur was the heart and soul of the event. Beaming excitedly, he handed out cards, plushies, coins and toys to his hospital friends — the pediatric patients, his nurses and care providers, including those from the PICU. Even those who don't play Pokémon had fun collecting the cards they thought were the cutest.   

Arthur's other friends — Pike, David and Travis, and his friends from the local Pokémon League in Rochester — joined the fun to support him and his wish.

Arthur's legacy will live on

Arthur’s family appreciates how supportive people have been and wants to share that kindness with others even after Arthur's journey is complete — and the connections they fostered through Artrhur’s journey will help ensure that the joy of Pokémon will be shared with other patients for years to come.  

For example, Pike continues to share his bulk cards with patients, and he plays cards with those he connects with. Cards are also given to patients with simple instructions so they can easily learn to play the game. Coulee Cards hopes to start Pokémon Nights at the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, which is extra special for the children who can't leave the facility.

"All this happened because Arthur wanted to share his love for Pokémon with everybody," says Freya.

So often with cancer, people focus on how sad and unfair it is. "I want to focus on how much fun we're having and the people we've met," reflects Freya. "Mayo Clinic Children's Center has helped us buy this time we're using to make memories."

If he could be any Pokémon for a whole day, Arthur says he "would definitely be a Miraidon. He looks like a motorcycle, and I like motorcycles. He's a dragon from the future."

It's a choice full of spirit and strength, just like Arthur.

About Mayo Clinic Children's Center

At Mayo Clinic Children's Center, over 50,000 children and adolescents from the U.S. and around the world receive exceptional care each year. Our world-class pediatric experts inspire hope and provide healing for even the most complex cases in over 70 clinical and surgical departments. Scientists and researchers in the Children's Research Center pioneer groundbreaking treatment options to help children live longer, healthier lives.

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