{"id":19665,"date":"2024-09-03T14:18:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T18:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=19665"},"modified":"2024-09-03T14:18:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T18:18:54","slug":"teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html","title":{"rendered":"Teen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2020, at the young age of 14, Brooklyn teenager Elijah John went to the dentist with a toothache that wouldn\u2019t heal. His life would change, however, when that visit would lead to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, meaning he needed chemotherapy. \u201cHe was always healthy \u2014 it wasn\u2019t something he was born with. We started to lose hope, to be honest with you,\u201d his father, Karl John, told The New York Post<\/em><\/a>. Yet John\u2019s treatments were not making the necessary progress that his family hoped for. \u201cThe first four months, the chemo didn\u2019t take. It was one of the scariest moments that I ever in my life endured. And watching Elijah going through the chemo, losing his hair, and being sick, I just kept praying,\u201d said his mother, Chawn Tucker. The only chance for John\u2019s life would now mean a bone marrow transplant.<\/p>\n

Little did he know that a man by the name of Nicholas Miranda-Newberry had signed up to be a donor in 2016 after seeing a Facebook ad. Miranda-Newberry ended up being the match that John needed. \u201cI felt shocked, I had forgotten I signed up. But I felt happy that I had the chance to save a person\u2019s life,\u201d Miranda-Newberry said<\/a> of being notified of the match. Describing the procedure, he admitted it was \u201cdifficult.\u201d \u201cThe bone marrow transplant, it was difficult \u2014 but I was able to get through the whole process, and I believe [that by] doing that I was able to save a person\u2019s life. I would honestly do it again.\u201d Miranda-Newberry donated his marrow to John in 2021.<\/p>\n

Three years later, John, who is now 18 and on his way to college, was able to thank the man who saved his life in person for the first time. Miranda-Newberry was now 25 and a newly wed when he traveled from his home in Chicago to meet John at Manhattan\u2019s Pier 57 in Chelsea. The pair shared an emotional hug, with John\u2019s parents tearfully thanking Miranda-Newberry for saving their son\u2019s life. \u201c[It\u2019s] unbelievable. There\u2019s no word that I could even put into this moment right now. I didn\u2019t think this day would have happened \u2014 I could not wait to meet Nicholas,\u201d said his mother. \u201cHe\u2019s a godsend. That\u2019s the best way to say it: Nicholas is a godsend,\u201d said his father.<\/p>\n

Miranda-Newberry said he hopes their story will encourage others to donate. \u201cYou don\u2019t know who is out there who needs your help. You can be anyone\u2019s hero if you want to be,\u201d he said. Miranda-Newberry and John were matched through the nonprofit DKMS. You can find out more about donating on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2020, at the young age of 14, Brooklyn teenager Elijah John went to the dentist with a toothache that wouldn\u2019t heal. His life would change, however, when that visit would lead to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, meaning he needed chemotherapy. \u201cHe was always healthy \u2014 it wasn\u2019t something he was born with.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":19668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[581],"class_list":["post-19665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-people","tag-cancer"],"yoast_head":"\nTeen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2020, at the young age of 14, Brooklyn teenager Elijah John went to the dentist with a toothache that wouldn\u2019t heal. His life would change, however, when that visit would lead to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, meaning he needed chemotherapy. \u201cHe was always healthy \u2014 it wasn\u2019t something he was born with.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-03T18:18:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d","og_description":"In 2020, at the young age of 14, Brooklyn teenager Elijah John went to the dentist with a toothache that wouldn\u2019t heal. His life would change, however, when that visit would lead to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, meaning he needed chemotherapy. \u201cHe was always healthy \u2014 it wasn\u2019t something he was born with.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2024-09-03T18:18:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html","name":"Teen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-03T18:18:54+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-03T18:18:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/f0820942b588b1bdba133d7ca3c8eb6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Adobe Stock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/09\/teen-leukemia-survivor-family-call-donor-a-godsend.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teen Leukemia Survivor, Family Call Donor a \u201cgodsend\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/","name":"Inspiration Report","description":"Inspiration News, Life Advice and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/f0820942b588b1bdba133d7ca3c8eb6e","name":"rdewing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/61e\/61e772313b3ddff45ee0c1a275e8dfc5x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/61e\/61e772313b3ddff45ee0c1a275e8dfc5x96.jpg","caption":"rdewing"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/rdewing"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19671,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19665\/revisions\/19671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}