His Battle Was Hers

Erin Sullivan: SAN ANTONIO — David Roth had a simple Christmas; at home with his mom and dad andhis older brother who flew in from New Jersey, sharing good food, playing outside with his golden retriever, Callie. The Roth home is set far back off a dirt road in San Antonio. It's serene and smells of burned leaves and earth. David, who is 14, likes being outside, breathing deep under a blue sky. It's pure, he says.

He doesn't want people stressed over the holidays. There will be burned turkeys. There will be casseroles that slip and crash to the floor. There will be old anger, old resentment.

None of that really matters.

"It's all just noise," David says.

David is about 5 feet tall and weighs les…