Born with rare brain cancer, Huntley, Ill., boy beats odds to begin kindergarten

HUNTLEY, Ill. - Matthew Erickson toddled across his new, brightly colored classroom Monday to greet a friend whom he hugged and called, "My buddy."

It was the Huntley boy's first day of kindergarten, and for all its typical rites of passage - a Superman backpack, a ride on a yellow school bus, joining classmates for story time - it was a day that seemed improbable 5 { years ago, when Matthew was born with an extremely rare and usually fatal form of brain cancer.

"We see a miracle, not just in his life but through a new thing he learns every single day," said his mother, Sue Erickson, 38.

The Chicago Tribune has been following Matthew's progress since weeks after he was born with a condition so rare that doctors say it's seen only in about five births nationwide each year: an aggressive form of brain cancer that developed while he was still in his mother's womb.

The cancer, a high-grade glioma, is more often seen in adults and is usually a death sentence. In his case, the tumor had engulfed much of his brain's right