Brody Chapmen was so excited about meeting his famous friend Dog the Bounty Hunter this week, that he forget to get sick after chemotherapy.
The 13-year-old from Eckville got the latest chemo treatment for his leukemia at an Edmonton hospital on Wednesday. But he didn’t feel the onset of nausea until after meeting with his TV hero on Thursday evening, said his mom Carmen Chapman.
“It was mind over matter, I guess,” added Carmen, who was thrilled to see Brody laughing and joking with Dog, whose name is Duane Chapman (no relation).
The real-life bounty hunter has been in touch with Brody ever since meeting him in Hawaii last year, through the Children’s Wish Foundation.
Of 1,600 celebrity wishes the foundation arranged, Carmen was told Brody and Dog are the only ones to stay in touch so long — and she believes this has done wonders for her son’s morale.
Dog squeezed in a second visit with Brody on Thursday in Edmonton, prior to his speaking engagement at River Cree Resort and Casino. Just the prospect of seeing his hero again kept Brody going through a difficult month of post-surgical complications, said Carmen.
This time, Duane gave her son new words of encouragement and praise, telling Brody he’s inspired so many other children with cancer with his donations of scrapbooking kits.
Dog also gave Brody another figure for his Budda collection. “Brody is known in the family as Little Budda,” said his mom, who added Dog made her son laugh when he rubbed his tummy and said, “make a wish.”
“He was really excited to see him.”
The only problem was too much media attention — TV cameras and flashbulbs outnumbered the relatives Brody had invited to the meeting, including two of his sisters, an aunt and cousin.
Carmen said Brody would have preferred more one-on-one time with his hero. But Dog promised to return to Alberta — “and next time he said he would bring his kids,” said Carmen.
Brody presented Dog with a picture of the two of them, taken at their Hawaii meeting, and got him to sign some photo enlargements.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com