Juan Carlos Chavez is a five-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Juan Carlos is son of Carlos Chavez, primary school teacher at Sacred Heart Primary School, and Marceli Chavez who all reside in San Ignacio Town.
Juan Carlos was diagnosed with ALL after a month of doing hematology tests almost daily and other analysis for perthes, lupus, and arthritis and all the results were negative. His chemotherapy was delayed since he had inflammation in his heart. He is now receiving treatment at the National Pediatric Oncology Unit in Guatemala. Each bag of blood costs 1,400 quetzales (approximately BZ $385) and for the chemotherapy alone he has already used four.
The family is raising funds for his treatment and is pleading to the Belizean community for assistance. A radiothon and Barbecue sale will be held on Saturday, August 3, 2013, in Orange Walk Town. If anyone wishes to order Barbecue in support of Juan Carlos please feel free to call 621-5678 or 669-8761 to place orders. If anyone is interested in financially assisting this young warrior battle cancer, a deposit can be made at Atlantic Bank account number: 211364192. Thanks very much for any contribution you are able to make.
About Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (source macmillan.org)
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a rare type of cancer of the white blood cells. Normally, white blood cells grow and divide in an orderly and controlled way.
In leukemia this process gets out of control as the normal signals that stop the body making too many cells are ignored. Hence, the cells go on dividing and do not mature.
In ALL there is an overproduction of immature lymphocytes, called lymphoblasts (sometimes referred to as blast cells).
These immature cells fill up the bone marrow and stop it from making new blood cells properly. As the lymphoblasts do not mature, they can’t do the work of normal white blood cells (fight infection). As a result of the bone marrow being overcrowded with immature white cells, it can’t make enough healthy red cells and platelets.
ALL occurs most frequently in children under 15; in adults it is most common between the ages of 15-25 and in people over 75. It’s slightly more common in males than in females.
