Oft-forgotten in the discussion of cancer diseases is their impact on young adults—people who, when diagnosed, tend to be in the middle of setting down roots for the rest of their lives. Confrontation with mortality extracts a terrible psychological toll as it supplants thoughts of pursuing higher education, beginning a career, getting married, or starting a family.

Brian Wickman with his mom, Willie. (Courtesy photo)

It was the spring of 2006 when Brian Wickman, then 30 years old, learned that he had an aggressive, uncommon tumor in one of his legs. The tumor, known as extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma, would require numerous chemotherapy treatments as well as the amputation of the limb.

Brian told his parents, Willie and Darrell Wickman of Willow Road, via telephone; he was in New York, and they were in New Zealand visiting their other son, Scott. “We were absolutely beside ourselves,” says Willie. They rushed back; Scott left a new job to be with his brother.

To Brian, an avid skier, the loss of his leg meant that instead of hitting the slopes after a late-season snowfall, he would be learning how to move, minus a leg, in rehabilitation sessions. It was at one of these sessions that Brian noticed a brochure for First Descents, a Colorado-based charitable organization that says it is dedicated to “curing young adults of the emotional effects of cancer and empowering them to regain control of their lives” through outdoor adventure experiences, especially whitewater kayaking. Brian’s interest was piqued, so he applied to the program and was accepted for a summer 2007 trip.

Willie Wickman braves the whitewater at the front of the personnel boat at a First Descents session in Idaho in August. (Courtesy photo)

Kayaking provided a welcome change of pace from rehab sessions, counseling, and support groups. “I started to regain confidence in myself and my body,” he says. “The change in focus from ‘How are you doing in chemo?’ to ‘Can you flip a kayak over in freezing water?’ was really important.”

The trip “gave” him his life back. The disease and its treatment process had drained him, but First Descents prompted what Brian called “a renewed desire to do the things I used to do, like tennis, skiing, and waterskiing.” In 2008, he started graduate studies in social work and divinity at Columbia University.

His parents noticed the change in him, too. “I wish that every mother who has a young adult child with cancer knew about this program,” Willie says. “It changed him.”

It was this transformation that inspired Willie and Darrell to volunteer as “camp mom and dad” at a First Descents session this past summer. Between Aug. 14 and 20, they cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for campers in Garden Valley, Idaho. Along the way, they observed the same sort of changes in program participants that they had seen in their son. “It was just incredible, watching the transition,” said Darrell. “Once you’ve completed your treatments, you’re still wondering, ‘What’s lurking inside my body?’” For young adults, this can be debilitating. “It’s important for this age demographic to know that there is life after cancer,” explains Darrell.

Brian, now 33, took that message to heart recently, completing work on a documentary produced by First Descents that examines the experiences of young adult cancer survivors. Darrell and Willie, too, wish to remain involved with the organization. “If they need us,” Willie says, “we’ll be out there in a heartbeat. It was an amazing experience.”

More information on First Descents is available at www.FirstDescents.org.