A big sign outside James Hill school in Langley's Murrayvile neighbourhood said "no more chemo, #twincredibles."
Identical five-year-old twin brothers Bennett and Weston Openshaw, who have been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since 2022, were celebrating a major milestone with their fellow students.
Weston finished his chemotherapy treatment in August and Bennett was done in October. Both boys are in remission.
"They started kindergarten this year, and their school helped us do a little celebration for their end of treatment," their mom, Alisha told the Langley Advance Times following the Monday, Oct. 21 party.
"That was fun for them."
The whole family, which includes dad Mike and older brother Jackson are "just kind of relishing in the normalcy of life," Alisha said.
Both boys are active, enjoying taking a basketball class and a baseball class, and they keep up with all the other kids, she said.
"You know, you would have never guessed that they spent almost three years fighting for their lives," Alisha commented.
"It's heartwarming to be able to see them running around with nothing holding them back anymore. We're really enjoying the moments that we get together because for so long, we weren't able to see those potential moments," she said.
"There was a point in time when we didn't think they would live to see kindergarten."
Both boy still have their implanted chemo ports used to deliver chemotherapy drugs, but they will be coming out as soon as surgery can be scheduled.
"They're both in remission and done [with] treatment," Alisha said.
"They're most likely to relapse in that first year off of treatment. So once we get past that first year, then their odds of relapse go down drastically. And then once they are five years out of treatment with no relapse, then they're considered cancer free."
While Weston and Bennett are done with chemo, the brothers are still coping with the after-effects, Alisha said.
"Although they have the same diagnosis, their treatment protocols were very different. Weston was high risk and Bennett was standard risk. So Weston's treatment plan was more intense and he got more chemo and stronger chemo, so it definitely set him back further than Bennett."
Her boys are resilient, Alisha said.
"They don't really ever get knocked down too hard. Even going through chemotherapy didn't really knock them down as far as their personalities and their positivity goes."
After a long run of hospital visit and medical treatments, the two are are typical brothers, who love each other, but not without the occasional clash.
"I always say that they love hard and they fight hard," Alisha remarked.
"They are fighting one moment, and loving each other in the next moment. They're generally pretty happy boys."
She said the family is planning a fundraiser for cancer research.
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