In 2014 just a month after turning 7 my Omar was Diagnosed with Large b-cell Lymphoma on Christmas Eve. Our family was in shock being the first person in our family diagnosed with Cancer. He had surgery to remove a tumor in his abdomen and had 4 inches of his intestine removed that had been damaged. Recovery was long and hard. Thank God Omar has always been a very very tough boy. Never giving up. It's the one time I don't mind his stubbornness. Remission started and Omar began another mission. He made a friend at CHLA that also was going through a similar diagnosis. Her wish was to have braids in her hair again. At the time Omar's hair began to grow. So he made it his goal to grow long hair and donate it to his friend through Locks of Love. It made me very proud to see my boy take a negative and create a positive from it. Unfortunately he suffered a lot of bullying for it.  His peers at school didn't understand and would call him names, pull on his hair and Omar began to hurt over trying to do a good deed. Started therapy to help him with his feelings and actions. It helped a bit and Omar continued to grow out his hair. Through all of this we had suffered several losses in our family. My mom (8/2015), dad (12/2015), my brother (1/2017) and my little sister (4/2018). My sister and Omar were very close. She helped him cope with bullying and his frustrations. It was very hard for him to lose her. She had two children that moved in with us right after my sister's passing along with their grandma. We struggled tremendously but kept pushing forward. It's all we could do.

April 2019, Omar was coming in for his yearly check up. We were ready to celebrate his 4th year in remission and my birthday after so much loss and grieving, when our world went up side down again. Omar was diagnosed with a different cancer. This time it was ALL ( Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) and we were heartbroken. I had to leave my job and concentrate all my heart and energy to helping my son. This time Omar's survival depended on a bone marrow transplant. The process to find a donor began. Again having angels looking after Omar we found a donor! My oldest, Omar's big brother became our Hero. He was Omar's Match! The outcome looked promising. Then, two weeks after the transplant Omar started having symptoms in his skin and little by little another diagnosis came GvHD (Graft vs Host Disease). We spent months in the hospital away from our family. He recovered enough to come home and I took several classes to care for Omar at home. Omar started a treatment called Photopheresis and was in and out of CHLA 3-4 times a week. He has been hospitalized several times do to complications and infections. He survived Septic Shock about 3 months ago and ended up in ICU. It was a very scary and uncertain time. We almost lost him. Still today a year later Omar suffers with GvHD. It's painful, uncomfortable, and hard on a teenage boy, but he continues to face every day with the best attitude he can put forward. On his best days my favorite thing to do is watch him sing his hearts content. Omar has always been the rock star of the house and I know that when he's singing it's a great day. This pandemic has made things much more difficult for us. Dad was laid off and what little we had saved all has been used to keep our nose above water. Thank God dad found a part time job recently, as we continue trying to catch up on all our bills.

We are forever grateful for you prayers, thoughts, or donations. The thing we wish for the most is to keep Omar's spirits high and a smile on his face. Anything is deeply and truly appreciated.

Thank you so much,
Omar and Family