Seventeen-year-old Dakota Cook of Port Haywood, is a grateful childhood survivor of one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, and he wants to show his gratitude by raising money for Ronald McDonald House.

To do that, he has created a Christmas tree out of pennies from his coin collection, and he’s raffling it off. Tickets are available at his parents’ store, the Island Stop Market at Port Haywood. Dakota set the price at $5 a ticket in hopes he can raise $1,000 by Jan. 31, the last day of the raffle.

Ronald McDonald House enabled Dakota’s dad, Tom Cook, then a South Hill resident, to stay close by the hospital during Dakota’s lengthy battle with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and his subsequent rehab.

“Without Ronald McDonald, it would have been impossible to stay in Richmond,” said Tom. “It was a communal atmosphere, and we met a lot of people going through similar circumstances.”

Dakota was born with club feet and had multiple surgeries during the first years of his life, but by age 7 he was “a perfectly normal, active boy,” said Tom. Then one day, Tom noticed two large swollen lymph nodes on the back of the child’s neck. Dakota went to school the next day, but suddenly threw up, and Tom took him to the doctor.

“The doctor diagnosed sinusitis, but it didn’t seem right,” he said.

Back at home that evening, Dakota began slurring his words, and he spent the night “moaning and groaning.” The next morning, he couldn’t speak, and a visit to a different doctor showed he had a swollen spleen. The doctor realized the seriousness of the situation and had Dakota evacuated by helicopter to the VCU Medical Center in Richmond.

The diagnosis was grim. T-ALL is an aggressive blood cancer that occurs suddenly and quickly makes the body’s T-cells cancerous. T-cells are white blood cells that normally help fight off infections. Within hours, the cancerous white blood cells multiply until they coagulate the blood.

“It’s like pudding,” said Tom.

This thickened blood caused Dakota to have a global stroke, creating ruptures throughout his brain. He couldn’t breathe and had to be intubated.

“A panel of doctors said he wouldn’t live, to plan on his death,” said Tom. “That was my breaking point.”

Faced with just a 1 percent chance that Dakota would survive, Tom agreed to a radical chemotherapy treatment. The doctors administered five gallons of chemotherapy to Dakota over a short period of time. All the while, he was on dialysis, with his blood being flushed through his body continuously. His brain was swollen from the cancer, and the medical team had to drill a hole in his skull to relieve the pressure. One of his IVs ruptured a vein in his arm, causing it to swell rapidly. “It was double the size,” said Dakota. This caused a calcium gluconate burn, and surgery had to be performed to cut out the damaged tissue. A skin graft was required, leaving Dakota’s right arm scarred.

Dakota spent six months at VCU. During that time, Tom sold his home in South Hill and moved to Mathews with his parents.

For the next five years, Dakota continued to have chemotherapy treatments. Much of the time, he was receiving chemotherapy every day, two or three days a week at VCU and the remaining days at home, with Tom administering the drugs himself. There were radiation treatments, as well. Then there was rehab at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk. All the while, Ronald McDonald House was there to make sure Tom could be close by Dakota’s side.

Now, 10 years later, Dakota is cancer-free, but he still has ongoing complications. The stroke damaged his left side, causing the tendons in his arm to tighten up and his arm to curl in toward his body. He also has a bit of trouble walking. Dakota is recovering from surgery in November to correct problems with his left leg, followed by surgery in December to correct the tendon problem in his left arm. He is walking on his own, although with a bit of a limp, and he can once again extend his arm.

“Hopefully he’ll be able to use his fingers now,” said Tom.

A smiling, friendly young man who is ready to talk to anyone, Dakota said his experience with cancer was scary, but that “my dad was by my side the whole time.” He said he’s been happy living in Mathews, and he hopes people here will support his efforts to give a little something back to the place that provided him and his dad with so much support over the years.