He enjoys watching "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Go, Diego, Go!" He loves Curious George. He is very outgoing and has a quick wit. He likes to play with his older sister and brother. He's recently developed interests in baking and painting, too.

"He's really a hands-on type of kid," said his mother, Donna Basile. "If he could make you eggs in the morning and you'd let him, he'd do it."

For such a little boy, Christopher has also developed quite an independent streak.

"He wants to do everything himself," Donna, 41, said. "(He says) "I'm old enough to do all of this by myself now, ma.' "

Christopher also has cancer.

Scary times

It was late February when Donna and Lou Basile of Spotswood first noticed something was wrong with their son.

"He started vomiting," explained Lou, 41. "Of course, like any parent, I thought it was some sort of virus. At the time he didn't have a fever or anything else. I thought it was something he ate."

Christopher would be ill for a few days, and then he would feel better for a day or so. But the vomiting returned. And then came the day that the Basiles decided that it had to be more than just a stomach bug.

"(Christopher) was curled up on the floor, screaming and holding his head," said Lou. He also complained that his stomach and head hurt. Things didn't improve overnight, either: The next morning, he threw up again and Donna called the doctor. The pediatrician suggested that Christopher be immediately taken to the hospital.

"Three-year-olds don't have migraine headaches like that," Lou recalled the doctor saying.

Donna rushed Christopher to the emergency room at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Although she was upset, she wasn't unduly alarmed.

"I was expecting to go there and just have them say so maybe he bumped his head (while he was at day care) and he had a concussion," she said. " . . . (But) you know something's wrong when three or four doctors are coming and they're telling you, "We have to tell you something.' "

That something was serious: A large tumor was inside Christopher's head. Lou left his job as operating engineer of an office building in New York City and rushed to New Brunswick.

"The doctor showed me the CAT scan and (Christopher) had a tumor in the back of his head," Lou explained. "It was about the size of a lemon. (I thought to myself) "This can't be my kid's head. The tumor's so big.' "

Donna was equally incredulous.

"I was shocked," she said. "I think of it now, and I just tear up and I get a knot in my stomach. Never in a million years was I thinking of anything that severe."

A decision was made to remove the tumor via surgery on Feb. 29. A week later, after tests on the tumor had been done, the Basiles received the news: Their son had anaplastic medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor.

"They sat us down and said it was malignant and obviously cancerous," Lou said.

A bone scan and spinal tap determined that the cancer cells had spread to Christopher's spinal fluid, which was particularly disturbing considering the tumor was estimated to be only a few months old. Because of the nature of the tumor — and the fact that the cancer had spread — the proposed treatment was more aggressive.

"Typically for this kind of cancer, the standard form of treatment is very high doses of radiation at the location of where the tumor was — and the spinal area — to kill the cancer cells there," said Lou.

The problem with that course of treatment, though, is the effect it would have on a little boy.

"Because of his age, the brain isn't fully developed yet," Lou explained. "There would be damage to good, growing brain cells . . . (As a result), he probably would never be able to go to a normal school or hold a job for the rest of his life.

"There was no way I was going to give him the radiation after I heard what it was going to do to him."

Finding the right treatment

The Basiles wanted to know about alternative treatments, and asked the doctor at Robert Wood Johnson for advice and the names of specialists they could consult for second and third opinions.

"They said that's fine," Lou recalled. "(They said), obviously it's your child and you do what you need to do."

The doctors put them in touch with Ira Dunkel, a pediatric oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, who heads up a program that explores new treatments for young patients with medulloblastoma.

Although Dunkel agreed that the typical treatment for that kind of cancer is high doses of radiation, Lou recalled, "He said, "If this was my 3-year-old, I would not do that.' "

The Basiles decided that Dunkel's test study protocol was the best treatment option for their son. The regimen involves heavy doses of chemotherapy being administered over a six-month period, which would require Christopher to be hospitalized for seven to eight days at a time. To make things easier on the Basiles, Dunkel would work in conjunction with Susan Murphy, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson. Murphy would administer the chemotherapy in New Brunswick so that Christopher's parents would not have to take him into New York City every month.

The first round of chemotherapy treatments began on March 31. Following completion of that first round, doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering harvested and froze some of Christopher's stem cells. They are currently being stored at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and will be transplanted once he completes the last round of chemotherapy. At some point in this process, doctors will also conduct tests to determine if cancer cells are still present in Christopher's spinal fluid.

In between his stays in the hospital, Christopher must visit New Brunswick's Cancer Institute of New Jersey for check-ups and blood work three times a week.

"He can't go back for more chemo until his (white blood cell) count and platelet count is back up again," Lou explained.

In the meantime, complications have arisen and Christopher has fallen ill.

"His body can't fight off any viruses or anything," Lou said. As a result, a fever — which can develop from something as simple as a cut — can become a serious problem. "Anything over 100 degrees, and we have to rush him to the hospital."

A family copes

During this trying time, the Basiles have held down full-time jobs. Lou commutes into New York City every day, and Donna works as a cruise consultant in East Brunswick. When Christopher is receiving chemotherapy treatments at the hospital, they make sure he is never alone overnight.

"We've been alternating staying in the hospital with him," Lou said. "We've been sleeping in the hospital every night."

Donna said it is difficult not wanting to spend every moment with Christopher.

"In the beginning, we both wanted to be there," she said. "Then it got more realistic, that obviously we both have to be at work.

"When you're at home, you feel guilty for leaving (Christopher). And then you realize there are two other children at home, and they have things to do and places to be . . . I don't want them to regret not having to do something because unfortunately their brother is ill."

To that end, the Basiles work hard to make sure 13-year-old Nicole and 9-year-old Louie are well-cared for. When help is needed, they know they can rely on friends and family to pitch in, helping them out with homework, taking them to school, playing with them and sometimes taking them in overnight.

In the midst of everything, Lou finds time to be den leader of Louie's Boy Scout troop. He also coaches Louie's baseball team and Nicole's softball team.

"I really don't know how it's been working," he said of the non-stop schedule. "(But) it actually helps take my mind off things for a little while."

Donna finds talking to her mother and a bit of exercise helps keep her going.

"I'm a walker, so I'll go out and I'll walk and try to clear my head," she said. "It's really actually not coping with it because it's such a busy life . . . I need to find that little hiding place that I can just go and vent and cry and just let it all out. But I don't think I've found it yet."

In addition, there are financial concerns. The Basiles do not know how much of Christopher's treatments will be covered by insurance.

"They tell you they don't cover anything that is a test study," Lou said. "They cover medication, but not the hospital or the doctors."

Although it is hard to find anything good that has come out of Christopher's illness, Donna points out one.

"I never wanted anything to happen, but . . . it kind of brought the three children a little closer together," she said. "That is a positive."

Donations for Christopher Basile may be made by contacting Donna Cary of the Cary Cares Foundation at (866) 543-7568.