Meet 2021 Scholar Darren
Our College Scholars receive a financial scholarship to help with academic expenses, and each scholar commits to undertaking a volunteer project of their choosing related to childhood cancer advocacy, with support and mentorship from the Children's Cancer Cause team.
In school, teachers and mentors ‘prepare you for the future,’ but I was never prepared for this. What do you do when 18 years of planning and preparations suddenly grind to a halt?
Darren’s Story
Darren, of Southside Stockton, California, was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 18 years old.
“It all started one day while I was volunteering at a high school soccer game,” recalls Darren. “What felt like a bruising ache coming from the back end of my thighs was distracting me that entire evening. I assumed it was from the cold weather outside so I pushed it aside, knowing the soreness would go away. But then days went by, and the soreness never subsided. Numbness became pain, and the pain became constant. Restless nights, loss of appetite, and distancing myself from the world around me.”
Darren was Senior Class president and an excellent student, finishing up his last year of high school, when the ‘soreness’ struck. Teachers became concerned about his change in attitude and the decline in his academic performance.
After months of trying to figure out what was wrong, he was scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy and received the answer: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He began receiving chemotherapy right away.
“It was definitely hard to not be able to go back to school for the last two months of high school,” says Darren. “It broke my heart but I knew if I wanted to see many tomorrows, I needed to sacrifice some ‘todays’ — prom, finals, and senior sunset among them. Hospitals became my home away from home. Pills and potions became my comfort.”
Life turned into a movie that was put on ‘pause.’ But life also became precious.
Although disappointed by all the ‘normal’ moments he was missing with his friends, Darren was inspired by his friends and family and their prayers. “I found a new sense of appreciation. What we have today is a gift, something we might not have tomorrow.”
Darren graduated high school in 2019 and took some time off for ongoing treatment. The Covid-19 pandemic delayed his educational plans further.
Today, Darren is 20 years old, in remission, and looking forward to beginning college in the fall of 2021, pursuing a career in oncology nursing.
Darren’s Advocacy Proposal
As an only child and someone of Southeast Asian descent, Darren’s biggest treatment challenge was finding a bone marrow donor. His chemotherapy regimen was prolonged as he waited and waited for a match - a match that never came.
“After eight biopsies, ten intrathecal chemo injections, four surgeries, four radiation treatments, five hospitalizations, and countless rounds of chemo, it felt like a lifetime of waiting for that match — something that could put an end to my pain and suffering,” says Darren. “The majority of bone marrow donors are Caucasian. But my care team never gave up, and eventually I signed up for a double cord stem cell transplant.”
Umbilical cord blood transplants are an alternative treatment for patients who do not match with a stem cell donor. A double transplant - using two unrelated cord blood units instead of one - is sometimes used to increase the cell dose for older patients like Darren.
“For my College Scholars project, I plan to use my social platforms to bring awareness to the lack of donors for children with ethnic backgrounds,” says Darren. “Children shouldn’t have to wait months and years for a donor match.”
“I want to use my voice and experience to bring forth heroes for other kids like me.”
December 2021 Update: Darren is finishing up his first semester of college. “I have changed my major to kinesiology at the moment but plan to take an accelerated program at the end of my four years and continue to pursue nursing,” says Darren.
“On November 22nd, it marked two years being in remission!”
Darren is involved in a service organization on campus and working on spreading awareness about the lack of ethnic donors.
“The scholarship has helped me to continue to pursue higher education here at Cal State LA - 5 hours from home.”