#DamianStrong: A mother’s gift to heal her son

Most kids are resilient, some are brave, but Damian and his family are #DamianStrong. At just five years old, Damian was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma, which is a rare but very aggressive type of cancer. Without hesitation, the family began fighting the cancer with everything they had.

 Fortunately, Damian was able to receive fast and aggressive treatment, which sent his cancer into remission within months. However, shortly after receiving the good news, Damian’s family found out that the same treatment brought on another set of complications. The treatment that had beaten his Burkitt’s Lymphoma had caused Damian to develop Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). AML is caused when myeloid cells, or the cells that develop into blood cells, are abnormal in some way. Blood cells start in the bone marrow, so that was where doctors needed to begin to combat Damian’s cancer. Damian needed a perfect match for a bone marrow transplant.

Doctors searched and searched, but were unable to find a match among the current blood marrow donors. The only remaining option was to test both of Damian’s parents and hope that one was a match. When the tests came back, the results confirmed that Damian’s mom was a match! On July 6th, Damian’s mom was able to donate stem cells to help heal her son.

Now going through recovery together, this special cake from Icing Smiles was just the thing Damian and his mom needed to cap off their celebration of happier times ahead. It is truly a well-deserved victory for a family that has endured so much, all the while remaining #DamianStrong.

For more of our Sugar Angel Andrea Croci’s creations, visit her website here.

This post handcrafted with love and smiles by Icing Smiles blogger Megan Glynn.