About five weeks ago, Mayra Gomez sat in St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital praying for her sweet young son, Javier. A moment no parent ever wants to endure is waiting for critical results that could be life changing for their child. For the second time in his short 6 years of life, little Javi and his mom received the devastating news that he has Leukemia. Again. Mayra’s most dreaded fear of the illness returning has come true.
What else is a mother to do but put on a brave face, remind herself that she is strong, and her son is stronger than this sickness. Mayra announced on social media on May 28th that Javi would undergo 4 weeks of intensive chemotherapy in a rigorous attempt to rid his body of the leukemia. Because of the extended hospital stay, Mayra needed to take a leave of absence from her job so that she could be with her son 24/7. As a single mother, this kind of financial hardship is worrisome, but she had to do what needed to be done for her son’s health. With her other 2 children being cared for by Mayra’s mother, she has been putting all her energy into helping her boy get well again.
After the announcement of his sickness returning, letters, pictures and gifts began to flood into Javi’s hospital room. Mayra posted pictures and videos of Javi opening his special mail every day on social media. His face lit up with smiles, laughs, and giggles as he rifled through his gifts. Love and supported started to pour in once again as people rallied to bring more awareness to his struggle and by May 31st, Javi went in for his operation to install a port for chemotherapy. To everyone’s pleasant surprise, Mayra announced that after surgery, Javi asked for pizza! Talk about a great sign!
As word began to spread about Javi, people in the community stepped up to help out. A GoFundMe account was started for the family to help with the burden of financial expense while his mom is off work. JEBS Corner hosted a “Tips for Javi” day, which turned out to be a huge success! Maggie O’Mara, a well-known journalist for KTVB, featured Javi on her news page. T-shirts were sold at Legends on Main that say “Javi Strong” with all proceeds going to the family. Angel Wings Network, Inc also stepped in to offer their help and support. So many folks have come together to help, there is just too many to name all at once. The family has been so appreciative of the support.
On June 8th, Mayra updated everyone and shared that the chemotherapy was responding as it should but with very low blood counts, which means blood transfusions to bring his counts up. On June 15th, Javi endured a spinal tap that showed clean fluids which was an exciting moment for the family. Yet, chemotherapy causes a lot of pain and sickness as it does its job of killing cancer. Javi has lost his hair and has had trouble walking along with stomach issues. His battle is far from over. He will continue to receive treatment until doctors decide whether or not he will need a bone marrow transplant. If that is the case, he will have to be transported to Utah.
Little Javi and his family could really use the love, support, and prayers right now as they fight for his life again. He is a strong boy with a heart of gold! Please show your support in any way you can.
Donate via Venmo: Mayra-Jaime-18
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/c186826c
