Area boy faces cancer three times

    Every cancer patient has to confront death, but there’s something particularly unfair for those who must do it before they’ve even really lived.
    If the patient is a child, it’s felt just as keenly by the parents.
    Thirteen-year-old Darin Neben of Culbertson is a veteran of the cancer wars. He’s had to fight the battles three times, the first when he was just 7.
    His mother, Kristina Neben, has some advice for a parent with a sick child.
    “First thing, I guess, would be to remain positive,” she said. “Darin was given a slim chance for survival. We remained positive, just talking to him a little bit at a time. Don’t overwhelm them. The doctors were always positive in front of him and that definitely helped.”
    Like many cancer cases, Darin’s began with what seemed, at the time, a relatively minor complaint that started getting worse.
    “For two years, we were actually told that he was constipated,” Kristina said. “We ended up in the ER two Christmas Eves in a row with him.”
    At first, doctors simply changed his diet. But after Kristina talked to the boy’s regular doctor, he was sent for a CAT scan.
    “Within a half hour, she was telling us he had cancer and we were at Children’s Hospital later that night.”

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