Tristan Varner was on high alert as the fire truck rounded the corner onto Mahogany Lane, the street where he lives with his aunt and uncle, Vicki and Mark DeLong.
The 9-year-old leaned forward expectantly as the truck slowed to a stop at the curb in the cul-de-sac, gazing down. Fire Chief Mike Beaver turned the engine off and climbed down, walked around, and lifted Tristan down from the truck.
The youngster was a little wobbly, lurching a bit as he walked over to friends and family members who gathered around, some climbing down from the engine’s back seat.
Tristan, who recently finished third grade at Foster School, is not likely to start school in the fall, according to doctors, who say he has an inoperable tumor in his brain stem, which is already affecting his coordination.
They say he likely will live anywhere between two weeks to a month, based on the progress the tumor has made.
Friends and family are making sure his final days are happy ones.
“I rode in a muscle car (driven by neighbor Justin Howerton), and I rode in a cop car (with Sheriff’s Deputy David Francis),” he told a reporter after exiting the truck on Thursday. During the ride with Beaver and volunteer firefighter Greg Mahler, the truck made a stop at an accident scene on North River Drive involving a motorcyclist who’d taken a spill.
“I got to go to an actual call,” Tristan reported. “Someone slid on the gravel on a motorcycle and got all scraped up.”
He said he wasn’t sure what precipitated the accident. “I have no clue,” he said.
He’s also ridden in a log truck owned by Kris Pickle, driven by Ryan Vollstad, and took rides on both quads and a Rhino. He also got his picture taken on a chopper motorcycle. He got a helicopter ride on Monday.
“It’s all been so fun,” he said. “I’m going to the races Saturday at the Speedway in Lebanon.”
Tristan has lived with the DeLongs and their three children, Phil, Marcus and Emily, off and on since he was a baby, Vicki DeLong said.
His most recent stay began Dec. 26 after his father, Jimmy Varner, went to the state penitentiary – the “resort,” Tristan calls it.
DeLong said the family noticed about a month ago that Tristan was becoming “a little clumsy.”
When he was bitten by a dog on June 14 and she took him to the emergency room, she mentioned it to the doctor, who recommended that Tristan see a pediatrician.
“We really weren’t too worried,” DeLong said. “We thought it was an inner-ear thing or something.”
But when Tristan visited the pediatrician on July 2, he had begun showing other, seizure-like symptoms, she said. Tests revealed something was indeed wrong and that night they went to Portland’s Doernbecker Children’s Hospital, where they met with a neurological surgical team, which delivered the bad news: the tumor was inoperable.
The family has met with hospice representatives and is simply trying to make Tristan’s last days, as many as are left, enjoyable for him.
“As long as he feels good, we’re just making his days full of fun,” DeLong said, as she and Mark prepared to take their nephew to the beach on Thursday evening.
“He hasn’t had any pain, though he’s frustrated because he’s had trouble walking.”
Pain, she said, will likely come from headaches as the tumor grows worse.
DeLong said they don’t need help now, but an account has been set up in Tristan’s name at Wells Fargo Bank in Sweet Home for anyone who would like to aid with expenses “afterwards.”
Howerton and his wife Eohe said Tristan has spent a lot of time at their house, with their three children and they’ve gotten to know him well.
“When we eat lunch with him every day, we get to know him,” Howerton said.
“We’d do anything for him,” Eohe Howerton added.