Poteau welcomes home 10-year-old boy battling cancer

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    POTEAU, OK (KFSM ) — 10-year old Blake Standridge spent a year at St. Jude’s hospital in Memphis.

Friday (Sept. 18) evening he was welcomed home by the town of Poteau, Oklahoma.

Friends and family lined up along Broadway Street to watch a parade of fire trucks and police vehicles.

“Blake has been in Memphis for almost exactly a year,” said Buddy Standridge, Blake’s dad.

Since September of 2019, Blake was at St. Jude’s after he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia.

Blake’s father said his illness came on quickly and out of nowhere.

“Last year in September we were playing football like any other regular kid…we had Christmas in St. Jude’s,” Buddy said.

Friends, family and coworkers of Buddy came out to support the family.

Harley Holton is on Buddy’s fire crew at the Hogeye Fire Department.

“When Buddy had to takeoff we all had to step up and do the job,” said Holton, a senior fireman for Hogeye.

Holton said everyone in the town of Poteau had Blake on their minds during the last year.

“We were all down here praying for him, supporting him, doing everything we could from here,” Holton said.

Buddy says there is more work ahead. There will be maintenance chemo for two more years and the family will make weekly visits to either Tulsa or Memphis for treatment.

Buddy says the journey has taken a lot out of Blake physically, but mentally he is still the same happy 10-year-old.

“Whenever one of us gets down he picks us up and it should be the other way around, but the kid just surprises you,” said Buddy about his son’s perseverance.

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