Mother needs help as son battles same rare cancer that two of his siblings died from
KUAM News spoke with a mother who has had to endure the heartache of losing not one child, but two children to cancer and is reaching out for assistance and answers as a third child battles the same type of rare brain cancer. Former Guam resident Ramona B
By KUAM NewsKUAM News spoke with a mother who has had to endure the heartache of losing not one child, but two children to cancer and is reaching out for assistance and answers as a third child battles the same type of rare brain cancer.
Former Guam resident Ramona Borja has experienced more heartache in her lifetime, the hardest thing a parent may ever have to face - the loss of a child. But for her, the pain due to the loss of two children seems unimaginable. Borja's daughter Fatiana hope passed away in 2008 from brain cancer. She was just 7 years old.
Just as Borja was starting to pick up the pieces, her son, Abraham John, was diagnosed with the same type of cancer. The family had to leave the island and head stateside so her son could get the needed treatments. Abraham John managed to fight off his cancer several times and while he was six months in remission for his brain cancer, he complained of a stomach ache.
When Borja took him to the hospital, doctors diagnosed him stage IV colon cancer. He died in 2019, a month after his 14th birthday.
But through it all this mother has remained resilient and strong as now her son, 7-year-old Thomas John Borja, battles the same rare brain cancer. Zelda Calvo is Borja's cousin and explained how doctors suggesting he get tested every 3-6 months helped detect cancer early.
"From AJ's passing until he turned 7 in January, the following month in February, they found the mass. We were hopeful because we had found it so soon...and we weren't able to do it with the other two," said Calvo.
But it came back positive. Thomas John Borja had been diagnosed with a history of Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency Syndrome, just like his two older siblings, which is a rare genetic disorder that can increase the risk of developing one or more types of cancer in a child.
"I just live day by day and see where the day takes me. Then I look at my kids and I'm like they need me. So I've got to be strong and I've got to do something," she said.
Borja and her family currently reside in Salem, Oregon, but because her son is needing special radiation and proton radiation therapy, they make the four-hour drive to Seattle Children’s Hospital and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Proton Therapy Center. A GoFundMe campaign has been organized by Calvo to help raise funds for medical expenses, gas, and overall basic necessities for her cousin as her focus remains on Thomas John.
Ramona said, "I just want to thank everyone for their prayers, their love, their thoughts, their donations- it's a lot. It means so much to us I see people who are donating- the littlest is something big for us. It just means so much to us, and everybody's help will not go unnoticed."
Calvo also wanted to use this opportunity to ask "if anyone knows anything about something close like this, please reach out to us because no one seems to have an answer...the treatment that they're doing on Thomas, it is specialized but it's what they think will help, it's not any kind of study."
Thomas John Borja wanted to say something as well. "Thank you everyone for your donations, gifts, your thoughts, your love, and your prayers...I love you all, he shared.