Father turns to 9-year-old son for lifesaving stem cell donation

The question came for dinner by the end of June.

The anesthetist Nick Mondek, 48 years old, was dying of acute myeloid leukemia, cancer, which affects the blood that formed blood in the bone marrow. It was a serious topic to deal with their then son, Stephen, when they ate the cups of the paste.

But Mondek needs a donor of stem cells – and quickly. Therefore, he asked his son to save his life.

The younger agreed to undergo testing at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to see if he could sacrifice stem cells to his father.

The fourth grade of Country Hills, who dreams of becoming a doctor for the baseball team of the Premier League, first had his own question: “When are we leaving?”

In July, Stephen became the fact that the medical center Cedars-Sinai believes is his youngest famous trunk cell donorField

“I just wanted to help,” Stephen said.

His donation does not just buy his father’s time, but gives hope that Stephen’s stem cells will build a more new, stronger immune system that will help his father beat off blood cancer.

“I wanted him to do it as his own decision,” said Mondek. “I did not want him to feel forced. I did not want him to feel that he should do it. “

Nick Mondek, a 48-year-old anesthetist, was dying of acute myeloidal leukemia, cancer, which affects blood that form blood in the bone marrow, and needed to donate the barrel to restore its immune system. His 9-year-old son Stephen intervened to help.

(Kindly provided by CEDARS-SINAI)

Mondek’s journey from the doctor to the patient began in April 2022.

The then 45-year-old employee of outpatient surgery, Martin Luther King Jr., felt a constantly tired little appetite. Then one day he could not turn his head. His vacation at rest jumped from standard 60 beats per minute to a re rusticles per 100 beats per minute.

“Being a typical stubborn doctor, I just continued to write this,” he said. “I would take antibiotics, I would take Ibuprofen, thinking that this is so, thinking that this is what is not even entertaining the fact that it can be cancer or even leukemia.”

Weekeeping symptoms forced Mondk to pass a simple full amount of blood, or CBC, a test. He was hospitalized within a few hours after receiving the results.

Mondek first found help to his brother, whose donations of stem cells sent Mondek blood cancer to remission.

However, in April, leukemia returned.

“We followed each clinical protocol, but this disease was still able to return, so we had a new problem in our hands,” said Dr. Ronald Packett, clinical director of the transplantation program of stem cells and bone marrow at Cedars-Sinai, and in a press release. “How could we treat his cancer for the second time and have more chances that he will not return?”

Packett and Mondek were looking for genetic matches, but did not find in their family or in the national register of bone marrow.

Stephen Montek with his father, nickname; Mom, Daniel Boyer and brother John.

Stephen Montek with his father, nickname; Mom, Daniel Boyer and brother John.

(Kindly provided by CEDARS-SINAI)

It was then that Mondek chose a curved ball.

He recalled how a friend successfully fought with lymphoma after receiving a transplant of stem cells from his 18-year-old son.

Packett confirmed that Stephen, who was 10 years last month. Stephen was automatically a partial match, as children receive half of their DNA from each of their parents.

Further testing showed that Stephen's immune system was compatible with his father.

The next conversation between Mondek and his son was even more complicated than the initial question of salvation. He had to explain all the subtleties of tax training and procedure.

Nine -year -old Stephen Mondek became the fact that, according to Cedars Sinai Hospital, is his youngest famous trunk cell donor.

The bandage covers Stephen Mondek’s neck, where the central linear catheter was inserted for the donation of stem cells.

(Kindly provided by CEDARS-SINAI)

“Every day I tell patients about risks and advantages over their procedures,” Mondek said. “And, obviously, they are over 18 years old, and they are adults, so that they can understand the pros and cons. So what is it, how can I talk to the 9-year-old? ”

Mondek explained to his son that there would be several weeks of preparation before the donation, which included shots and blood exams. Although his son had reservations, he was not worried about anesthesia or procedures. He had one concern.

“I never wanted to miss, playing baseball,” said Stephen, a fan of Chicago Cubs and a dealer in the baseball team of Rolling Hills of a small league.

However, there were special considerations from Stephen's age. For example, the normal donation of stem cells is usually non -surgical procedure in which blood is extracted from the hand through IV.

Since Stephen's veins are much less than adults, the doctors had to find another point of entrance.

Stephen arrived on the day of his procedure at 7 a.m., he was placed in the children's pediatric intensity CEDARS-SINAI Guerin, taking into account the overall anesthesia, intubated and laid on the fan in front of the central line (catheter), inserted into his neck in his neck.

Then Stephen was extracted and woke up, and then he rested for an hour before his blood was drained and scrolled a centrifuge for six hours to separate stem cells.

“This young donation is very rare,” said Dr. Hoyun Chung, an intensive therapy pediatrician. “Stephen was very bold, and our team made sure that everything went perfectly so that this little boy could help his father.”

On the same day, Stephen returned home to his father, his mother Daniel Boyer and his younger brother John.

The restoration of his father was not so fast.

Mondek was adopted on July 23 and spent six days on cedars, receiving chemotherapy to suppress his immune system, which makes it less likely to reject Stefan's cells.

Mondek went in the hospital for another two weeks to protect his young and vulnerable immune system.

Packett told Mondec that although the operation was successful, it may take more than a year to determine whether his new immune system, controlled by his son’s cells, can defeat leukemia. Now he just needs to wait.

On August 16, Mondek was finally discharged from the hospital.

He went straight to Stephen's baseball match to catch the final Inning of his son.

Leave a Comment