Ivan has always been a happy-go-lucky kid. Always very active, always inventing and playing games.
Ivan showed an early interest in all things related to cars, especially driving them! He started off-roading in his Uncle Chu’s jeep when he was fourteen.
Cars became one of his passions.
He was involved with sports and played on the volleyball team in high school. He was very athletic.
His first car was sort of his first love, an “Evo”.
His first big accomplishment was graduating from high school. A very happy day indeed!
Ivan was like anyone else. A kind, caring kid with lots of dreams and a bright future. He started going to college, and got a part-time job at a bank.
One day he was going to work but he didn’t feel right. Something was wrong. He felt weak and light headed. He also looked very pale.
During the workday, he felt like he was going to faint and his boss told him to go to an urgent care center. After a quick blood test, he was told to get to the ER immediately, because his red cell count was extremely low. He drove himself to the hospital and was admitted. Many tests were done trying to find a diagnosis. It didn’t take long. The next day he was told he had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a very aggressive form of blood cancer.
He was then started on chemotherapy treatment. The side effects and discomfort started to be felt soon after, but through it all, Ivan managed to stay positive and keep a smile on his face.
Ivan was lucky in that a donor for a bone-marrow transplant was found very quickly. Preparations for the therapy needed before the transplant were underway.
Then he started to get full-body radiation, massive doses, four 15-minute sessions a day, for a week.
Aggressive chemotherapy was also part of his treatment. This is when things started to get really difficult…
His skin was red, burned really, from the radiation. He had frequent nausea, vomiting, and violent hiccups. Everything hurt. The pain was… intense.
Ivan’s irrepressible “thumbs-up” attitude was gone. He was driven to the brink. At times he felt it would be easier to just give up… fade away.
He then realized he had to make a choice: fight or die.
He decided to fight. And in doing so, he would later realize how crucial this decision was to his own successful recovery.
Little by little he began to feel better. His smile returned.
And it was a happy day when he was finally released from the hospital!
Ivan received his transplant in September 2014 and he is still under the watchful care of his physician. He is currently in full remission and he is well on the way to a complete recovery.
This experience gave Ivan a new perspective and a need to get involved in something meaningful. He kept thinking about how tough it must be for children with leukemia. It was very tough for him, and he was strong and athletic. So how tough is it for a child? How easy would it be for any child to give up?
Ivan felt he needed to reach out to the children and help them. Talk to them. Inspire them to keep fighting.
The Ivan’s Choice Leukemia Foundation was founded on the genuine desire of its founder, Ivan Garcia, to help children afflicted by this terrible disease.
Because in the end, as wonderful as the medical professionals are, each of us that have to climb this mountain still has to make a choice: the choice to live.
Love, always,
Ivan
