Jack Witherspoon - Twist It Up: More Than 60 Delicious Recipes from an Inspiring Young Chef

To my momwho loves me so much and
helped me make my dreams come true.
J. W.

You may be wondering how a boy like me got to write a cookbook like this. Id probably be wondering the same thing. After all, I havent been to culinary school, and I dont have my own restaurant (yet). I havent even started middle school! Here is my story so youll understand exactly how it all happened.

I was born on April 20, 2000, in Redondo Beach, California, a town near Los Angeles. I have lived here my whole life with my mom and dad and younger brother, Josh. Im pretty much like any other boy my age: I like to skateboard and surf, I play in Little League, and I hang out with my friends. My life wasnt always this normal, though. In fact, there was a time when I wasnt able to do much of anything.

When I was only two years old, I got a disease called leukemia. It was the type of leukemia that mostly kids get. It was scary when I first got it, but the doctors gave my family and me a lot of hope and told us I had a good chance of being cured. There were lots of hospital visits and doctors appointments. I lost all of my hair and wasnt able to go to preschool. To help prepare me for school, my mom and dad enrolled me in tae kwon do classes when I was four years old. My leukemia treatment lasted almost 3 years, finally ending one month after I started kindergarten. The doctors warned us that a relapse would be the worst thing that could happen. If I did relapse, I would have only about a 50 percent chance of being cured.

I had been finished with my treatment for a whole year and was just beginning first grade. Life seemed great. I was happy, I liked school, and I had lots of friends. Having leukemia was a distant memory to me now. It was in October 2006 when I had one of my monthly checkups. Even though my blood looked perfect (this is what the doctors test to see if the disease is gone) and I felt fine, my mom noticed something different about me and asked the doctors to take another look. We did a few more tests and then a bone marrow biopsy. The unthinkable had happened: My leukemia had come back!

I was just six years old and had no idea how much my life was about to change. The treatment this time was going to be much more intense than the first time. I would have many hospital stays, each one lasting several days. I had to leave school and say goodbye to all of my friends. I couldnt play sports or do tae kwon do anymore. I lost my hair againeven my eyebrows and eyelashes! That was one of the worst parts of the whole thing, not because I liked my hair so much but because everyone who saw me knew that I was sick.

This time, getting treatment meant staying in the hospital for four or five days at a time every three weeks. My mom or dad was always there, which helped. Sometimes my brother would come, or a friend from school would visit. During my hospital stays, television and video games were mainly how I entertained myself but they didnt always hold my interest. One day I was channel surfing when I stumbled on the Food Network, a channel devoted completely to food and cooking. I had watched my mom cook before but had never paid much attention. This channel took cooking to a whole new level for me. I was totally intrigued! I watched show after show after show. I had my mom write down the ingredients so that when we went home, I could make the recipes with her. I had found something I could do that was totally fun, and even having leukemia couldnt stop me from doing it.

After just a few months of cooking, I told my parents I wanted to be a chef when I grew up. Now when we cooked at home, I was in training for my future profession. One of the things I loved doing was going to restaurants and tasting new dishes. If I liked something, Id go home and try to re-create it. When I was still getting treatment, my mom, Josh, and I would go to restaurants when the lunch rush was over, around three oclock in the afternoon. That way, hardly anyone would be in the restaurant, and I wouldnt be exposed to germs and run the risk of infection. (I couldnt go into restaurants when other people were theremy immune system wasnt strong enough.)

It was cool because the restaurants were slow at that time of the day, so if I liked something, I could ask the waitress what was in the dish. Then shed go back to the kitchen and talk to the chef for me. I was trying all kinds of recipes now. I liked to change things around and put my own twist on them. Thats how I came up with my catchphrase, Twist it up. Its how I love to cook, and makes me feel like I can add my own special touch to a dish. Being home all the time didnt seem so bad anymore!

About a year into my treatment, my mom happened to run into an old friend who owned a restaurant. My mom told him about my leukemia and my goal to someday become a chef. Well, my moms friend was so impressed and said that if I ever wanted to do a fund-raiser to benefit the charity of my choice, we could use his restaurantand I could do the cooking! My mom came home and told me what happened. I was so excited! It was a dream come true.

I began planning the fund-raiser immediately. We decided it would be for Miller Childrens Hospital, and we would give all the proceeds to pediatric leukemia research at the Jonathan Jaques Childrens Cancer Center located there (where I was receiving my treatment).

The fund-raiser was a huge success! By the night of the event, we had sold out the whole restaurant more than 320 people came and there was even a waiting list to get in! The Los Angeles Times was there, local television stations, and even CNN! I was on the newscooking! My dream to be a chef like the ones I saw on the Food Network had come true. The day of the fund-raiser, December 5, 2007, was the best day of my life.

That night was awesome, but I still had another year left of treatment. I had done it once before, so I knew I could do it again. A few months later, I was well enough to return to school, see all my friends again, and do most of the things that I used to do. I had missed just about all of first grade and most of second grade. I knew going back to school was going to take some adjusting. I hadnt seen my friends for so long, everyone had to get to know me all over again. That was going to be hard.

A few months after I went back to school, my hair started to grow back and I could finally take off my hat. This made me feel better because I was starting to look and feel like my old self again. Catching up at school wasnt easy at first, eitherthis was going to take some work, too. But no matter how challenging things were, my love of cooking never faded, so by the next December, my family and I organized another one of my fund-raisers. This time, we raised enough money to create the Jack Witherspoon Endowment at Miller Childrens Hospital. Then, in June of 2009, I became the pediatric spokesperson for the Beckstrand Cancer Foundation. I was a live-auction item for a chefs dinner at their annual Diamond and Pearl Ball that October. Since 2008, I have taken part in the Profiles of Courage Gala for Miller Childrens Hospital each year.

The fund-raisers Ive organized and cooked for have allowed me to meet some famous chefs, and Ive even gotten to cook with celebrities on national television. Ive also done some radio interviews.

Being a chef and cooking has been my dream. Even though the doctors werent sure how things would turn out for me, I always believed I would be okay and I never gave up hope. Oh, and in June 2010, I became a black belt in tae kwon do. Leukemia had gotten in the way of that dream, too, but it had only postponed it for me.