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Hi, my name is Jack.  I was diagnosed in 2011 (at 2.5 years old) with Stage 4 Burkett’s Lymphoma. I went through 5 months of intense chemotherapy.  Please share my story below and help me and millions of others succeed in finding a cure for cancer.

When Donna and Gregory Pastor brought their 2-year-old son Jack to the emergency room at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, his only apparent medical symptom was constipation. But his mom worried that it was something worse, and fortunately Darshan Patel, M.D., Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, took her fears seriously. What followed was a unique collaboration of pediatric specialists—all under one roof—to diagnose and successfully treat a rare cancer.

The Pastors live in Rye Brook. Donna, 38, is the office manager at a sports marketing firm; Gregory, 36, is a banker, and this month Jack and his brother Alex turn 3 and 1 respectively. At Christmas time, Jack complained of belly pain, which came and went over the next two weeks. Without knowing why, Donna suspected something more than a toddler’s gas pains. Then, in mid-January, Jack’s day-care teacher noticed he was pale and listless. “He wasn’t moving much, and this is a boy who never stopped moving,” Donna says. “I knew something was wrong.”

Then Jack developed diarrhea. “I said, ‘Enough of this, let’s go to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital,’” Donna recalls. “On the drive to the hospital he was chatting away and seemed fine. That was January 14. He didn’t leave the hospital for 30 days.”

When Donna insisted that her son had more than just bowel problems, Dr. Patel listened. “Normally, I wouldn’t have done more testing, because no symptom created what we call a ‘high clinical suspicion,’” he says. “But it came down to listening to the family and going with my gut feeling that they knew their child best.”

He ordered an X-ray of Jack’s belly, which showed a condition called intussusception, in which one part of the intestine telescopes into another. “It’s like a garden hose pushing into a fire hose,” he says.

Dr. Patel decided to refer Jack to Adele Brudnicki, M.D., Maria Fareri Childen’s Hospital’s Chief of Pediatric Radiology, for more tests and treatment. She had an ultrasound taken and found not just the intussuception but also enlarged lymph nodes. Jack would need emergency surgery.

Dr. Brudnicki feared a more serious problem: lymphoma, in which swollen glands can block the intestines, forcing them to telescope. “Cancer is one of the possible causes of intussusception—but it’s very rare,” she says.

The surgery, performed by Whitney McBride, M.D., a pediatric surgeon, went well, but a biopsy of Jack’s lymph nodes confirmed Burkitt’s lymphoma.

IN HOURS, JACK PASTOR MOVED FROM THE E.R. TO RADIOLOGY, SURGERY, INTENSIVE CARE AND THEN THE CANCER UNIT.

This is an uncommon cancer, says Oya Tugal, M.D., a pediatric oncologist at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. Fortunately, it is also highly responsive to chemotherapy. Indeed, after Jack’s first course of treatment, the cancer was almost entirely eradicated. Within days, Jack was his old, outgoing self.

“We called him Master Pastor because he was master of the whole unit,” Dr. Tugal says with a laugh. “He’s a very humorous little boy, a beautiful kid.”

Jack underwent four more courses of chemotherapy over the next four months to complete the treatment protocol. The cancer had not spread to his bone marrow or spinal fluid, so it is highly unlikely to come back, Dr. Tugal reports. Still, he will be monitored closely every three to six months. “After two years, we will consider him cured,” she says.

All the doctors who were involved marvel at the dramatic course Jack’s case took. “I couldn’t believe he was in surgery a few hours after I saw him,” says Dr. Patel.

“Maybe it was fortunate, in a way, that he had the stomach pain from the intussusception, which brought him in early,” says Dr. Brudnicki. “Otherwise we might not have found the cancer until a much later stage.” She believes Jack’s successful treatment could have been provided only at a facility like Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital where“there is a team of pediatric radiologists, surgeons and oncologists ready and waiting."

Today, Donna says, “Jack is great. He hasn’t stopped moving since he came home.” She’s thankful to have Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital as her go-to treatment facility. “I wanted doctors and nurses who were used to kids,” she says. And she has learned that Jack probably first developed cancer only about a month before his surgery— “when I first noticed something was wrong,” she says.

Never underestimate a mother’s intuition—and the power of a doctor who listens.

Support the Hero Squad by donating to my Pennies for Patients campaign. 

Thanks to your support, LLS is able to launch new endeavors like it's Children's Initiative. 

This initiative seeks to accelerate treatments with fewer harmful side effects so that young patients like Cruz (above) not only survive, but thrive, for generations to come.

Please help me reach my goal! When I raise money, I can earn Special Edition Hero Squad gear. For example, if I raise $50 online, I will earn a Hero Squad Tee that shows everybody that I am part of a team that supports those who need help. Please share my link with your friends and family who might also like to donate! All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax-deductible.

On behalf of blood cancer patients and Honored Heroes everywhere, thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org.