Gabriel’s Story

Gabriel H. is 25 years old.

Gabriel was diagnosed with “A.L.L.” It’s a type of blood cancer, a type of leukemia.  Normally, it’s a rare cancer in prepubescent children and people over 50.

Gabriel was door dashing seven days a week and lived with his parents in Fort Worth. He started to notice pain while driving one day and ignored it. But it worsened so he went to the ER when he noticed a pressure in the left side of his body. It turns out his spleen was enlarged due to a highly elevated white blood cell count. Before then, he had been trying to ignore some seemingly minor symptoms. After a few tests, the doctors knew it was serious, and he was eventually diagnosed with A.L.L. He is now on a strong chemotherapy regimen and must take 7x the amount given to children because he is otherwise in his prime youthful years and his body tries to fight the chemo.

Gabriel has not worked since his diagnosis 6 months ago. He has to come into the treatment center for 5 to 7 days in a row, all day. He also has to do lab visits 3 to 5 times per week. His treatment weeks are every other week and sometimes every two weeks. Chemo has shown progress and is nearly qualified to be in “full remission”, and once he reaches full remission, he is qualified for a full-body bone marrow transplant, which is a 30-day hospital stay and requires a donor match.

Gabriel is very hopeful to qualify for a transplant very soon, which is the only known cure for this type of cancer. Gabriel and his family need immediate help with the costs of care already incurred and much more expected soon. Doctors have told him his body will be sick for up to a year after BMT, but it’s the only long-term path forward. During our interview call, Gabriel was in the hospital getting a chemo treatment. His attitude remains upbeat and positive. We were impressed with his fighting spirit and commitment to win this battle. Mankind was proud to support Gabriel and his family in their time of need.

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Help Mankind reach more men like Gabriel by supporting us at our 12th Annual Golf Tournament May 5 at the Bear Creek Golf Club. Find out more here www.foremankind.org, and please follow Mankind on Facebook and Mankind on LinkedIn.