A Home Run For Kobe

Nine-Year-Old Kobe is Now Cancer-Free and Playing Baseball Again!

Kobe Washington was playing his favorite game, baseball, when he fell ill. He had just turned eight-years-old and was on a baseball trip with his family. His parents noticed that Kobe seemed sluggish. The lymph nodes around his neck were swollen and he had a slight fever, so they took him to a local hospital.

Soon after arriving, the doctors had him airlifted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersberg, Florida.

Kobe was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer.

That was in August of 2020. Since then, it has been a whirlwind year for Kobe and his family.

The Challenges of Blood Cancer

His little body had to withstand all of the treatments that come with blood cancer; chemo, emergency surgeries, blood transfusions, spinal taps, kidney issues, hypertension, and radiation.

There were many challenges, but Kobe managed them all like a true sportsman, he was always smiling, always positive.

Due to the severity of his cancer, Kobe’s parents had no choice but to quit work. He required 24/7 caretaker support, even while in the hospital. His parents split their time between watching over Kobe and caring for their other children.

Icla Cares

The Icla da Silva Foundation was happy to be able to provide some financial assistance while we continued the search for a matching donor.

Thousands signed up to become potential donors, and we were grateful, but no one matched Kobe.

His time was running out.

A Successful Transplant

In March of 2021, seven months after diagnosis, Kobe’s medical team decided to transplant blood stem cells from his father, even though he was only a 50% match.

Surprisingly in June, 100 days later, Kobe’s bone marrow biopsy showed 100% donor origin, with no trace of leukemia.

Kobe is now nine-years-old and cancer-free.

He still has to visit the hospital every two weeks for check-ups, but he is building back his strength and Kobe is playing baseball again!

We are very happy for him and his family. Good news like this cannot be celebrated enough.

We wish him a happy return to childhood…and many more baseball games.

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Written by: Bret Itskowitch