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"He had a lot of re-admissions between [sessions] because his blood counts would drop so far, and then he was nauseated," Kittiko said. "He had to have a feeding tube into his abdomen so we could give him two feedings at night."

In his regimen, Eric would have three treatments in 30 days-a set of intravenous drugs on the first day, another set on day 21 and a repeat of those drugs on day 28 before the cycle started again just seven days later. Some drugs took three hours to administer; some, nearly three days.

Killing the tumor before it metastasized in the lungs would be crucial to his recovery. He had already earned a small victory in December 1996, when doctors ruled out amputation and performed a limb salvage surgery that substituted 18 inches of Eric's femur and his knee joint with a cobalt chrome replacement. His physical therapy went slowly as he worked through his chemotherapy, but he still was walking around quicker than anyone expected, Kittiko said.

His chemotherapy ended in June 1997, and he appeared to be in remission.

Mirror image

Cameron Shaw is a childhood cancer survivor. Diagnosed in the mid-1980s with leukemia and lymphoma, the Atlanta sales and marketing executive found himself in a two-prong struggle in those years.

"From my experience, being a teenager and being a child is difficult enough," said Shaw, 32. "And when you're also trying to get healthy …"

Shaw saw a mirror image of himself while working as a volunteer counselor at Camp Sunshine, an Atlanta-area camp offered each summer for childhood cancer patients. In a cabin with other sick boys and two adult counselors, Eric Kittiko was withdrawn and shy like Shaw was as a 14-year-old. For the first time, however, Eric was hearing stories about survival from people who were past their affliction. He grew especially close to Shaw and his story.

"He reminded me of myself," Shaw said. "When I was sick, I was a shy kid like him. But when you're in a cabin with six other kids with cancer, it brings you out of your shell."

A summer of skeet shooting, archery and fishing with kids like himself improved Eric's spirit and outlook. "In the beginning, it felt like he was going to beat it," Shaw said.

In the fall of 1997, Eric started his ninth-grade year at a new school after a year's absence from education. He made a few new friends while maintaining close ties with his friends from the cancer ward and camp. Putting his cancer into remission somehow sparked his burgeoning academic skills-his GPA improved to 3.2-and prompted him to establish close ties with his literature teacher.

He also became attached to A Separate Peace, a novel by John Knowles that captures a teenage boy's regrets about never acknowledging a late classmate's friendship.

Eric's good fortune did not last. A CT scan of his chest in December 1997 showed tumors had spread to his lungs. He would undergo two surgeries in the months to come, with the tumors returning each time.

Eric and his family discussed his options with the doctor, measuring his diminishing odds against the quality of life he wanted to have. In an essay he wrote for school called "My Separate Peace," Eric recalled how he "felt pressured and confused because this was a decision about my life. I don't think it's fair I'm only 16 and I have to decide whether I live or die."

Eric opted for the treatment, but days before he was to begin them, another setback occurred. In a postop scan in June 1998, tumors had returned to his lungs and now were inoperable. A subsequent CT scan revealed a 4-centimeter brain tumor that was inoperable as well. There would be no more operations and only limited chemotherapy, Kittiko said. "It was enough to keep the tumors under control to a degree, but not so harsh of a chemo that he couldn't be happy and enjoy what he was doing."

Friends and family made sure Eric experienced all he could imagine in the time he had left. He was a guest of a NASCAR racing team, and flew down in a private jet to watch the Daytona 500. He went canoeing. And he returned to Camp Sunshine, where Eric was interviewed for a "CBS This Morning" segment about the camp.