Meet Jorge

When Jorge woke up the morning of his 6^th birthday, he had come down with a fever and a full body rash. Presents and cake would have to wait as Jorge and his parents immediately went to the doctor for bloodwork. After making the most of the day despite not feeling well, it wasn’t until 11:00 p.m., Claudia, Jorge’s mom, received a call from the doctor asking them to go to Nationwide Children's Hospital’s Emergency Department.

Jorge was admitted upon arrival. More testing revealed the worst. Jorge had B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This is an aggressive blood cancer in which too many immature white blood cells are found in the bone marrow and blood.

Jorge began treatment less than 24 hours after arriving at Nationwide Children’s. He spent 17 days at the hospital for his initial chemotherapy treatments. 

“After his first stay, for the most part, he has been able to be outpatient during his treatment,” shares Claudia. “He’s only been hospitalized a few times due to the therapies he was receiving at the time.”

Jorge will have two to three more years of treatment, but he has already grown close to his care team.

“They have gone above and beyond to make him feel comfortable,” Claudia recalls. “They have helped us understand everything with his cancer, never making us feel like we are asking silly questions. We feel very comfortable with them looking after our Jorge.”

Jorge has never met a stranger and is a big fan of the Minions, telling jokes, playing video games and his two cats, Little Ceaser and Rocket.