Unstoppable Testimonies

Hello! I’m Hector and I’m 3 years old. Since I was born I had been a healthy, chubby baby, and a big eater, but there was one thing that stood out: my skin was always very red, especially around the mouth, but at first it was just put down to having atopic skin.

Suddenly, I also started to have a lot of mucus and I was having problems breathing. My parents took me to the doctor and, after many tests, they finally told me I had pneumonia – I wish that had been the case! But after a few days and a great tests later, I was diagnosed with severe combined immunodeficiency, the most severe type of primary immunodeficiency. My body had no defences to fight infections, the well-known “bubble boy syndrome”. Without a bone marrow transplant, life expectancy is about 2 years at most.

But thanks to Dad’s lymphocytes to keep infections at bay, a few months later I was able to undergo a bone marrow transplant from an anonymous donor who gave me a second chance in life. The Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO) of the Josep Carreras Foundation found this donor. I will always be grateful for this new LIFE.

A life that I am enjoying to the fullest, discovering my well-deserved firsts, as I just celebrated my second birthday, this time surrounded by all my loved ones.

At home they call me Héctor, with “H” for HERO! I have the best parents in the world and I am a happy child!

Héctor