NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) – A 2-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer has received a life-saving bone marrow donation.
Hezekiah “Hezzy” Martinez received a diagnosis for acute myeloid leukemia in the summer of 2024.
This January, his mother Lidia Martinez said he still puts on a smile and wants to play despite multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
“He looks like he isn’t battling the worst cancer ever,” she said. “To me, he is the light of God.”
Martinez and Hezekiah have been through several stays at Children’s Hospital as the 2-year-old went through painful tests and procedures related to his disease.
Hezekiah’s doctors said he needs a bone marrow transplant. However, they said there were no matches for him through the national donor database.
A few weeks ago, his mother asked to be tested, however, and her results have rejuvenated her spirit.
“(The doctor) was like, ‘You are a donor.’ That was the biggest news,” she said. “Out of nine million donors, none matched my son, none whatsoever.”
On Feb. 4, Martinez will take a trip to a facility in Kansas City to extract her bone marrow. The donation will then be quickly flown back to New Orleans to Children’s Hospital and quickly given to her son.
“I’m giving my son a second chance in life. I’m doing everything I can,” she said. “As a mom, I feel grateful that I can actually do that twice. Not just once but twice.”
Health educator Eric Griggs, M.D. said a patient finding a bone marrow transplant is hard and it’s even more difficult for a parent trying to donate to their child.
“The likelihood that your actual parent will be a match is small,“ Griggs said. ”Fifty percent of the DNA of that child is from the parent, so the likelihood that there would be a match to the point where it wouldn’t be rejected, is really small.”
While the Martinez family prepares for the transplant procedures, Martinez believes if the donation is accepted by her son’s body, he would soon be rid of his cancer, especially with his leukemia levels already declining.
“It was 0.6 at one point and this month by the grace of God, it’s 0.01,” she said.
Griggs is confident that modern technology and medical procedures will ensure that Hezekiah will have a successful transplant.
“It will be a journey, but typically when we see bone marrow transplants in these conditions, they turn out pretty well,” Griggs said.
Something else Hezekiah needs throughout his recovery are blood donations, which the Blood Center has helped with since this past summer.
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