When Parker Watson was four years old, his parents, Michelle and Mike, noticed he had a low-grade fever and was feeling sluggish. At first, they didn’t think much of it. His fever was less than 100-degrees, and they figured he just had a virus. Days later, Parker’s fever still hadn’t broken, so they took him to the urgent care, where, despite his bloodwork coming back irregular, he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia and started antibiotics. Having reviewed the bloodwork, their pediatrician kept checking in, telling Michelle and Mike that if Parker’s fever went back up, they should take him to the ER.
His fever remained mild, but Michelle could sense in the doctor’s voice that she felt something more may be going on. “I could just tell she felt that something was off,” Michelle said, “so we took him to the ER, and it wasn’t walking pneumonia.” It was cancer. B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Parker’s immune system was completely compromised, but they caught the cancer early, so it wasn’t yet detectable in his blood. His doctors biopsied his bones and found the cancer in his marrow. The Watson family had just been thrown into an unexpected journey as Parker began his three-and-a-half-year treatment plan. “It was terrifying,” Michelle said. “It felt like I took a sudden deep breath in—a gasp—and that feeling stayed with me for years.”
Parker’s treatment included chemo, steroids, lumbar punctures, and more. For Parker, having his port accessed was particularly traumatic, often needing to be restrained. The Watsons were living in San Diego at the time, and Parker wasn’t able to attend school for the first year of treatment. He missed out on a lot of activities most other kids his age were able to experience. During this time, Parker spent many of his days interacting with adults. He went to kindergarten with a lot of precautions but missed most of first grade due to hospital stays, infections, the flu, and other complications. When the pandemic hit that same year, much of the world was thrown into a similar isolation Parker had been experiencing for years. “His childhood was atypical for a long period of time,” Michelle recalled. “He may not remember all of that, but like any childhood trauma, it could stay with him even if his memory of it fades.”
The summer before Parker was diagnosed, he was given an award at school for being the “most joyful”. “He was filled with joy and optimism and curiosity as a young child, and over the course of treatment, we lost that,” Michelle said. The steroids Parker was on affected him greatly, impacting his mood, sleep, and general well-being. But Parker’s curiosity remained, developing new interests like listening to ‘80s rock and playing chess.
When Parker was in second grade, his family moved to Boston, and relatives on the North Shore told Michelle about a program called Team IMPACT. “Most parents of medically complex children live lives that are unpredictable and sometimes full of uncertainty, so I think joining a program where many parents wonder what exactly the kids ‘do’ or how exactly it ‘works’ might come with hesitation,” Michelle noted. Nonetheless, she applied, and Parker was soon matched with the Harvard hockey team in the summer of 2022. It didn’t take long for Michelle and Mike to know they had made the right choice for their son. “I would tell those parents that it is really an experience you have to step into to understand. I would tell them that if they can make the commitment and take the leap, the program can give not only their child but the entire family community, structure, and support.”
Though Michelle says they didn’t set any expectations going into the program, Parker to and his parents almost immediately began to feel that community, structure, and support. Parker quickly became a staple for the Crimson on game days, at practices, and at every team function. Michelle and Mike were also quickly enveloped into the Harvard Athletics family, feeling welcomed by the team, staff, and players’ families. “I did not expect this to be such a family experience,” Michelle said. “I did not expect the relationships that Parker has with some of the players, even some who have left, and how impactful that would be. What we didn’t forsee is how dedicated we’d feel to the team and that they’d become such a significant part of our lives.”
One moment that sticks out to Michelle is last season when the team was taking their team photo. Parker was watching from the bench when Harvard Head Coach, Ted Donato, came over to Parker from the sidelines and walked him across the ice to be in the team photo. “It represented everything Team IMPACT is about and acknowledged that Parker is truly part of the team,” Michelle said. For Parker, some of his favorite memories are reading the starting lineup for the Beanpot Tournament and traveling to Ireland for the Belfast Friendship Four. In Ireland, he most fondly remembers being included in the team’s Thanksgiving Dinner, bumping into the players around Dublin, and participating in game day for the tournament. It is a trip he says he will remember forever.
Michelle remembers a time they were living in San Diego and Parker had an assignment at school where he had to make a timeline of the most memorable parts of his life. First on the timeline was “getting cancer.” Second was his Make-A-Wish trip, and last was finishing his cancer treatments. “Those were his things. He had nothing else,” Michelle said, “so for him to now have another piece of him that says, ‘I am also a Harvard hockey teammate,’ that’s an important milestone.”
Little by little, through consistent moments of support and inclusion, Michelle and Mike watched their son be himself again. “We’ve seen the joy come back into him, only to increase more after joining this program,” Michelle said. “In the first month of treatment, many parents say their child becomes a shell of themselves because of the immense amount of steroids and chemotherapy, and that certainly happened to us. The change, physically and mentally, happens alarmingly fast. We lost him for a long time. We started to see his joy and enthusiasm really peeking back through as he became immersed with the team. I don’t know if it was a sense of belonging and acceptance or the identity shift from ‘cancer survivor’ to ‘friend and teammate,’ but there was a shift. Perhaps after years of being isolated in more ways than one, it is the experience of being a part of something that is bigger than himself. It’s so important. This is him being genuinely excited for something. It’s even more than optimism. We have seen his joy come back. This is him coming back to who he was before.”
With the team by his side, Parker learned who he is outside of what he had been through. “Too many kids that go through treatment learn that they are special because they are sick. When they are done, that goes away and suddenly, what makes them unique? What gives them value? Nobody tells you ahead of time how this might impact them and how important it is that they learn their identity is so much more than ‘cancer survivor,’” Michelle said. “Yes, that is a unique part of them that gives them amazing perspective, but they are so much more. I think a relationship with a team teaches these kids that they are special and unique and valuable for so many reasons, not just because of their disease or disability.”
Michelle fondly remembers Parker’s time with Henry Thrun, who now plays for the San Jose Sharks. When Parker first joined the team, Henry was one of the guys with whom he most immediately connected. Now, even years later, Parker and Henry remain close friends, e-mailing each other, talking about school and life, and just simply being buddies.
These friendships have helped Parker connect with a community that uplifts him and see himself as more than his struggles. “Parker has grown to be more independent and confident since joining Team IMPACT,” Michelle said. “He has been able to form an identity outside of cancer survivor, where he can also see his value as a teammate, member of the Harvard community, and friend. It has given us family time around something we all equally enjoy and look forward to.”
As Michelle looks forward to Parker’s future living his life officially cancer-free, she wants his teammates to know that their impact on her son is not temporary but will ripple out for years to come. “Once we made Team IMPACT a commitment, it became something we can’t really imagine being without,” Michelle said. “It is a life-changing experience for Parker, not only in the present but in ways we cannot possibly predict. Our experience has helped shape our lives in a positive way. I think Parker will be discovering what this program has done for him for years to come, and I hope that, no matter where life takes us, we’ll be part of Harvard hockey forever.“
“Right now, Parker is part of the players’ regular routines,” Michelle continued, “but in 20 years, when they look back at this experience with an even wider perspective, I hope they’ll recognize just how impactful and important their individual participation was to our family. They gave Parker unparalleled opportunities and relationships, changing our family’s life for the better.”
