Transplanting Hope

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

Special Assignment: Transplanting Hope aired Tuesday, June 23, 1998 at 11 p.m.

Amador Navarro and his mother Alejandra can't stop giving thanks, because it was just six months ago the boy was lying in his bed fighting to survive, reported CBS 2 News' Kyra Phillips. It wasn't just leukemia slowly taking the life out of Amador, but the fact that he was Latino.

Amador's only hope of staying alive was a bone marrow transplant. The Navarro family was devastated when they learned the odds of a Latino finding a bone marrow donor is one in a million.

"When the doctors gave me the bad news, I thought that was it -- my son was going to die," Alejandra Navarro told CBS 2 News. "That's when I turned to God. I was convinced my son was going to be cured."

Navarro's burning need took a spiritual twist, said Phillips. She learned that because of religious beliefs and fear of donating, only 7 percent of the three million bone marrow donors are Latino.

In addition, transplants are uncommon in many Latin American countries, Phillips said. But this mother wouldn't accept that, so she went on to burn more than 300 religious candles since Amador was diagnosed with cancer -- pleading with the Latino community to provide donors.

Amador's life became a home in a bubble at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, reported Phillips. Meanwhile, chemotherapy was taking every ounce of his energy.

It was two and a half years of pain and prayers, said Phillips. When would the phone call come through that a bone marrow match had been found?

"He was dying in front of us, and there was nothing we could do about it," his mother said.

Then, in October of 1997, a donor was finally found. Two months later, little Amador was ready to get his transplant. His one-in-a-million chance at the gift of life was packed on ice in a cooler. The surgery went off without a hitch.

Despite months of recovery, Amador is beginning to smile again, said Phillips. He is gaining strength through his family's touch and never-ending faith.

But Amador's fight for life is far from over. The 6-year-old will endure responsibilities many of us would probably never be able to handle, reported Phillips. Amador takes more than a dozen medications each day and must live with swelling in his face and body until his system adjusts to the transplant.

In addition, he must wear a mask to avoid deadly germs. When he left the hospital after his surgery, his father carried him home. Now, six years later, Amador is walking on his own.

"Now he's just really getting back into being himself and recovering," Dr. Ken Wenberg told CBS 2 News. "So what we were talking about in clinic today is he's going to start school in September. This summer we expect full activities."

"We value and appreciate life more than ever. We realize health is the best gift for a person," Amador's mother said. "If your kids are healthy you feel like a millionaire, because if you're sick your world just comes crashing down. We just wish for everyone who is going through what we went through to not lose hope. Have faith and patience."

Amador's doctor said he will no longer have to wear his face mask in two weeks, and his progress continues without any complications.

Meanwhile, Latinos are encouraged to call the American Bone Marrow Donor Registry at (800) 825-3214. You might be able to save a young child like Amador Navarro.

From our s:

• April 21, 1998: Special Assignment: On The Verge Of A Cancer Cure, Part III (Childhood Cancers)

More information:

• Learn how you can donate bone marrow at the National Donor Marrow Program Web site.
• Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide is a project for the collection of bone marrow involving dozens of countries.
• Cancer Kids provides a forum for children with cancer to tell their stories to the world.
• Families of Children with Cancer (FCC) has support services to families living with effects of childhood cancer, volunteers are parents of children with cancer.
• National Childhood Cancer Foundation is a non-profit organization which supports treatment and research projects to cure children with cancer.
• Special Love, Inc. offers programs to help children with cancer experience normal things that healthy children experience every day; laughing, running, swimming, and friends.
• Read about UCLA's experimental cancer research and clinical trials.
• Cancer News on the Net is dedicated to bringing patients and their families the latest information on cancer diagnosis and treatment.
• USC's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center also has clinical trials.
• The City of Hope National Cancer Medical Center specializes in the prevention, treatment and cure of cancer and other life threatening disease through research and patient care.
• Explore CancerNews on the 'Net.