He’s still not comfortable with spotlighted attention, and when he shades away, it’s reminiscent of when he’d seek his refuge by burying his face behind his mother’s shoulder.
Hines Rotriga was a young kid with cancer back then – neuroblastoma to be exact – and he was just a young, single-digit child fighting for his life. These days, though, Hines is 14 and just another student at Sherrard Middle School who loves cars and Ozzy Osbourne.
But he remembers being sick and referring to his cancer as the “bad cookies,” and he recalls always giving a thumbs-up to his supporters even though he really felt like Hell had taken over his childhood.
“I just barely remember some things about being here and there (at events) sometimes,” he said. “If someone comes up to me now, it depends. I do remember some people from back then, and some people I still see (these days) like Christine (McKnickle-Thomas) at Quaker Steak (and Lube at The Highlands).”
But no matter what he conjures from those “Hope for Hines” days, the young man is aware he’s a miracle come true.
“Yeah, I do.”
“He was so small and so young back then,” said mother, Debbie Rotriga, “that he likely doesn’t remember much, but every once in a while, he’ll see something and it’ll bring back some memories. He has told us that he remembers the trips we took to New York, but only because of the (Memorial Sloan Kettering) hospital and not because we were sightseeing. We didn’t do any of that back then.
“We do hope to make another trip to New York someday so he can see the city,” she said. “But back then it was about getting there, getting his treatments and his scans, and then getting home.”
The child’s survival was first and foremost, and everyone raising the funds and sending the prayers understood that from the beginning of the battle. Even the boy’s aunt and uncle and owners of Miklas Meat Market in Wheeling, Laura and Dave Rotriga, knew there were good days and bad days while they spearheaded the “Hope for Hines” campaign.
“When someone comes up to him because they supported him, he’s always very polite to everyone. But when no one is around, he’ll turn to me and ask me who it was because he doesn’t remember everyone from back then,” Debbie explained. “I’m sure everyone understands, and we’re happy when someone wants to say hi because it helps him realize the support everyone gave him.
“The events for Hines were always so crowded, especially the ones at Quaker Steak & Lube (at The Highlands),” she said. “When he was feeling OK, he ran around the whole time, but when he wasn’t, he usually stayed pretty close to us, and people came up to him.”
No Signs
Hines worked this summer with his father, Kevin, at United Refrigeration, and with his mother at Miklas Meat Market. Now that he’s back in school, his class load includes basic math, science, language arts, social studies, English, and wood shop.
Don’t forget wood shop. Wood shop is his favorite class.
And Hines loves playing drums – he’s even in the band at Sherrard Middle – and his love for cars has grown beyond his beloved Match Box hot rods to his father’s white-and-racing striped Dodge Challenger 2022 Scat Pack.
“Right now, I don’t know about college, but I do know I want to work on cars somehow. I want to design them and work on them like I do with my dad now. And I wouldn’t mind doing something at Miklas Meat Market with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Laura,” he said. “I’ve always liked cars, so I know I want them to be part of what I do when I grow up.”
It’s good to hear him talk about the future.
“He’s been clean for so long now that we don’t have to go for scans anymore. We just have to monitor him and listen to him because he does tell us about some aches and pains,” Debbie explained. “He’s had pain in his joints, and that’s likely a reaction to all of the treatments he had to go through during those years, but some of the pains he experiences could just be from being his age right now.
“But we don’t take any chances. We report everything. He gets frustrated with it all sometimes, and that’s when I have to remind him that he had the radiation treatments and the surgeries and everything else,” she said. “Side effects are side effects, and he understands that. You can’t discount those things, and that’s when we explain it when we have to.”
But he feels well? Right?
“I feel good now,” Hines protested. “I have those pains, but I’m OK. I know my mom is protective, but that’s OK because she knows more about the tests and the treatments than I do.”
How He Got Here
Mom has told the story far too many times.
“He was a few months older than 2 years old and he was having problems with facial drooping and some pain, and it spiraled from there,” Debbie recalled. “After all of the tests, the doctors told us he had a tumor behind his ear, and they took most of it out, but then they said he had a tumor in his abdomen, too. That’s when he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, and that was in 2013.
“He had treatments at Ruby Memorial in Morgantown, and then we ended up going to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York for a lot of the treatments he received,” she said. “We’ll be forever grateful to both hospitals because they were able to work together through the years and the relapses and the treatment.
“We’ll forever be grateful for all of the help people have given us.”
Even though he’s only entering his teenage years, it seems Hines somehow understands most of the emotions involved with his fight against the “bad cookies” of cancer, but that’s likely because he’s the one who endured the painful grossness of the disease and his bitter fight against it.
“I will wear the (Hope for Hines) shirts sometimes, especially during the month of September to raise awareness. That is important to me,” Hines explained. “I know there are other kids out there with cancer, so we’ll keep raising awareness when we can so people know.
“I’ll always raise awareness (for childhood cancer) because of how many (people) helped me when I was sick. That’s what it takes for kids to get the help they need.”
Debbie and Kevin answer a lot of their son’s questions. His curiosity is understandable, too, especially since he has scars from surgeries he doesn’t remember having.
“We do try to explain it all to him when he asks, and he asks about the things he sees in all of the photos from the events or our trips for his treatments. We tell him about the shots and the scans and the surgeries. Just everything,” Rotriga said. “There was a lot. There was a lot every day back then, and we didn’t know what to think from one day to the next.
“We were thrown into this new world where we had to become a nurse or a doctor so we could help Hines, and that alone scares you when you don’t understand any of it,” she said. “For a long time, Hines must have thought that’s what life was all about because the cancers and the treatments were the only things he knew.
“That’s why we’re thrilled that he gets to live his life now.”
