BRYANT — The five weeks that it took 14-year-old Nicholas Burrell to plan, organize and build his Eagle Scout Project was not only entertaining, but also stressful.
“I got to see him learn about leadership, time management and how to lead people,” said John McAlister, Nicholas’ dad and troop co-leader.
“While it is entertaining, you are feeling the stress, too. The way the troop works is, we let the Scout make mistakes because that’s the best way for them to learn. … But it is stressful as a parent,” he said.
“You want them to get these projects done; you want to step in but you can’t. They have to learn that way,” McAlister said.
“Time management was probably my biggest struggle,” Nicholas said, “waiting till the last minute to do things, also trying to figure out the measurements and everything — that was pretty stressful.”
Nicholas is the youngest in Troop 99 to reach the rank of Eagle Scout. He was recognized at a ceremony on Aug. 31, two years after being diagnosed with germinoma cancer in the brain and the spine.
“[After my diagnosis], I realized that you can’t take a day for granted,” Nicholas said, “and that anything can happen.”
Nicholas has been working on his Eagle Scout rank for three years, since 2016, but to accomplish it by the age of 14 is rare, his dad said. Normally, most Eagle Scouts are 16 to 18 years old.
“Where he wasn’t able to go on certain Scouting activities, or campouts, he was making that up by continuing his effort on his merit badges,” said his mom and c0-troop leader, Amanda McAlister. “He was coming to Scout meetings when he was able.”
“He would be brave for any kid when you’ve lost all your hair and not feeling well,” John said. “Still today, he perseveres through because it is challenging because of his health issues. He isn’t able to participate as much as he would like.”
John said once a Scout reaches the age of 18, he can’t reach the rank of Eagle, unless he has a special need and has special permission. He said, unfortunately, “we get some Scouts who wait till the week of their 18th birthday and start panicking.”
“We only have four Eagle Scouts in the troop, but we are going to have an influx soon,” he said. “We’ve got 12 who could potentially start their Eagle projects.”
Nicholas, a ninth-grader at Bryant Junior High School, was diagnosed with cancer in April 2017. His mom said he was having a bout of severe headaches and nausea.
“We were meeting with the endocrinologist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and they were testing him for different things, including diabetes insipidus, and he was having an MRI done,” Amanda said. “During that MRI, they immediately saw the multiple tumors in the brain.”
Nicholas went through 26 intensive rounds of radiation over the course of five weeks. John said if the cancer had just been in the brain alone, the doctors “would have hit with chemo and radiation.”
“But since it had traveled and moved from his brain and into his spine, they just used radiation,” John said.
Amanda said Nicholas’ cancer is not in remission, but he is scheduled to get scans every four months. She said he has three medications that he has to take twice a day for the rest of his life, in addition to his growth-hormone therapy.
“Because of the damage the tumors themselves caused, it requires lifelong treatment,” John said. “But the radiation also burned off his pituitary gland, and now his metabolism is basically zero.”
Amanda said there is always a chance of developing a new form of cancer, and they will “always have that journey to worry about.”
“Anytime you add growth hormones or any type of therapy into the mix, it increases your chances of also redeveloping the same type or a new type of cancer,” she said.
Amanda and John have been married for 10 years and have been troop leaders for more than six years.
“This troop is fortunate that we have a good number of adult leadership here who mentor the boys over their journey,” John said.
For his Eagle Scout project, Nicholas installed a blessing box in front of Salem United Methodist Church, near Benton. A blessing box is a way for people in need to pick up nonperishable food items. He said that when he was looking for a project, senior pastor Justin Ledbetter was asking Scouts who were looking to obtain the rank of Eagle if they would like to do this project.
“And I know Arkansas has a lot of issues with kids and families who are running low on food sources and need places to get food,” Nicholas said. “That’s the reason I picked the project.”
Ledbetter, who has been the pastor at the church for a little over a year, said Burrell is the first Scout to obtain his Eagle rank since Ledbetter arrived.
“We have 10 young men who are on the verge of doing their Eagle project,” he said. “And they are interested in doing a project to better our community.
“While the Scouts have helped with our canned-food drives, one of the things we talked about was combating hunger in the community, and that’s ultimately what Nick decided he wanted to do.”
In order to become an Eagle Scout, Nicholas had to complete 21 Eagle required merit badges and do the project, which requires him to lead other Scouts in its completion.
“Trying to organize kids to come over and do work is painful enough,” John said, “but the Scouts are good-natured, until they are called on last-minute, but he had some good help on this project.”
Salem United Methodist Church has hosted the troop for its meetings and ceremonies for more than 25 years, so John said part of the reason Nicholas chose this particular project was to give back to the troop’s host church.
“That is a lot of wear and tear on the church because we have Cub Scouts who are coming in since kindergarten all the way up to high school, … and this was a chance to give back,” he said.
Amanda said members of the church and people in the community have been keeping the box well-stocked. Nicholas said the Sunday after he completed the box, it had already been cleaned out.
“People are using it,” Nicholas said. “The church really appreciated it.”
“Nick is quite a remarkable person,” Ledbetter said. “I know, before I got here, he had cancer. But now, he is a healthy, strong and vibrant kid — a super good kid.”
The cost of the blessing box was more than $1,000, but John said part of Nicholas’ project was to find donations for it.
“Part of the Eagle project is for it to not be at the expense of the Scout or their parent,” he said, “but to get the community to make donations for the supplies and resources.”
Nicholas said he was lucky to have some pretty generous donations, including materials from Ridout Lumber of Benton, Discount Auto Glass, Moody Cabinets and Home Depot.
“The box has some high-quality material that should last a long time,” John said.
The family attends Geyer Springs First Baptist Church in Little Rock. Amanda said that during Nicholas’ cancer diagnosis and treatment, they really relied on their church and Scout-troop family for support — “and the fact that we have a really good team of doctors and specialists who are familiar with this particular disease.”
“It has been really phenomenal, and we are very fortunate that we have been able to stay in-state for treatment,” she said.
“Nicholas is just a super young man,” Ledbetter said. “This is just a great thing that he has done in the community, helping to serve his neighbors and providing goods in their time of need.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 226-8233 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.