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By CHRIS FOX
fox.chris@dailygleaner.com

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Mathieu Lacombe got a wake-up call from a construction crew two months ago, but now that he has a pool to show for it, he couldn't be happier.

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The Daily Gleaner/James West Pho

BEATING THE HEAT: Mathieu Lacombe, 13, stands in front of his new pool Sunday afternoon in New Maryland. Lacombe was diagnosed with cancer last year. His wish for a pool was granted by the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada – New Brunswick chapter.

Lacombe, 13, who was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma cancer last November, went for an inaugural swim on the weekend in his above-ground pool.

The pool, a gift from the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, had been under construction in Lacombe's backyard since the middle of May.

"I was sleeping in my room one morning and all of a sudden I just heard this big bulldozer in the back,'' he said Sunday.

"I looked out and he was just digging, and I figured it must have been for a pool.

"That was a while ago, and now that it's here, it's pretty cool. I can't wait to go for a swim on those hot summer days."

Lacombe originally wanted a Dodge Viper. But when the Children's Wish Foundation wasn't willing to hand over the keys to a $85,000 sports car to someone two years away from a learner's permit, he settled on a pool.

"My first thought was a Viper, but that didn't work out, and I didn't want to go on a trip because I couldn't keep it, so I thought about the pool and wished for that," he said.

Mathieu's mother Josee Lacombe-Grant said she couldn't thank everyone involved enough.

The carpenters' union provided volunteers to construct the pool and local retailers gave fencing and lumber to the project at a reduced cost.

"This is pretty special. A lot of kids don't survive cancer, and for them it's very important to realize their wish before they leave," she said. "It just means so much to me that so many people thought about Mathieu."

Lacombe-Grant said the pool is the perfect gift because Mathieu will be able to use it to have fun and regain his strength once he is finished chemotherapy on Aug. 25.

"Chemo attacks his nerves, so with the water he can do some exercises for his feet and his hands that will build back strength," she said. "It's great that this pool will make it easier for him to do the things he needs to do to get better."

The Lacombe family will go to the IWK Children's Hospital in Halifax on Aug. 25, where they will find out if Mathieu's cancer is in remission.

His mother said her hopes are high after Mathieu's tumour shrunk from the size of a grapefruit on the left side of his face to the size of a blueberry.

"It has been pretty rough, but the last two months things have been getting better, and we will find out soon whether he is in remission," she said.

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common of the soft-tissue sarcomas in children. Tumours develop from muscle or fibrous tissue and can grow in any part of the body.

The most common areas of the body to be affected are around the head and neck, the bladder, or the testes. Sometimes tumours are found in a muscle or a limb, in the chest, or in the abdominal wall.

Nationally, the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada has granted more than 14,000 wishes since 1983. In New Brunswick, it has granted 594 wishes, with 72 of those wishes in the Fredericton area.