Jonathan had cancer.
Diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoma at 14, Jonathan went through 2 ½ years of chemotherapy. Prior to his diagnosis, he was a healthy teenager who had just made his jr. high school basketball team.
Then a small lump appeared on his neck. Two doctors, including a specialist, insisted that he only had a viral infection. Within two weeks that one small lump, that tiny little bump, grew, making Jonathan’s neck look like the neck of a 300 lb. football player. And the lumps were spreading to other glands in his body.
A friend told his mother that she should take him to Texas Children’s Hospital. There, they would get to the bottom of the situation. Within 18 hours, Jonathan was taken to surgery for a biopsy. The results were nightmarish. Jonathan had a 5X7 mass of tumors in his chest. There would be no basketball. Jonathan had to leave school immediately to receive chemo.
During his first big treatment, he only received 1/4 of the dose when doctors had to discontinue the treatment. Jonathan’s kidneys were failing. He seizured and was rushed to ICU where the focus was not on his cancer but on his body as it was incapable of receiving the treatment that had the highest success rate for his type of cancer.
Fortunately, enough research had been done on Jonathan’s type of cancer, and an alternative treatment was available.
Today, Jonathan is a normal, healthy, cancer-free teenager whose goal is to become a doctor of pediatric oncology.
His inspiration will always be the friends that he’s lost to cancer.
Thanks to Jonathan and his mother, Desie, for providing Snowdrop Foundation with this information.
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