May the Force be with young Davin

Neighbors of Davin Cloward recently performed a Light Saber Attack on his lawn. About 50 people came to place glow sticks, “Light Sabers,” in the snow and show support for Davin. By the time they were done, nearly 1,000 points of light welcomed him out to his front lawn.

Davin is a 4-year-old Herriman resident who is battling cancer. Last summer, he and his family were informed of a tumor growing in his stomach. He went through two rounds of chemotherapy and then just recently had surgery to remove most of the tumor. There was a small part of the tumor they had to leave because it was so close to his spine. The good news is that the first post-scan does not show any growth.

 Lisa Johnson is a neighbor and friend of the Clowards. She knew that Davin loved Star Wars, and also needed something to lift his spirits.

 “The idea just came to me in the middle of the night while I was thinking of him. The more I thought about it, the Light Sabers started to remind me of the light of prayer. So I asked that each glow stick represent a prayer said for Davin and his family.”

During his ordeal, Davin’s parents, Megan and Chad Cloward, helped him understand what he was going through by comparing it to the battles of Star Wars.

“The Dark Lords have started building a planet inside your stomach,” they explained. The doctors created a portal for the Jedi Knights (chemo) to go into his body and fight the bad guys.

On Nov. 10, Jack James, 17, was dressed as a Jedi Knight.

“He’s a really great kid,” he said of Davin. “I know that this is a tremendous trial at such a young age. I hope that it helps to prepare him and make his adult trials seem like much less.”

Another costumed Jedi was Aysa Johnson, 15.

“I really wanted to show my support for little Davin and help him fight the dark side of cancer,” she said.

Also represented was Darth Vader, Logan Christiansen, 10.

“I wanted to help Davin feel better. I know he likes Star Wars. I hope the Force is with him,” he said.

 The one drawback to the evening was the weather. The original plan was to stick the glow sticks in Davin’s lawn. But having just received a deep blanket of snow the day before, they had to be placed in snow.

 This caused a chemical reaction that makes a glow stick’s glow slow down, so many of the sticks were not as bright as they otherwise would have been.

 “Davin and his brother Liam still loved it,” Megan Cloward said.