Like many 11 year old’s Xavier (Ziggy) Escamilla loves living life as a kid, playing with friends, building Legos and Xbox games is what makes him happy… until this sweet autistic boy was diagnosed with Leukemia on August 3, 2016. As if dealing with Autism wasn’t tough enough, Xavier had to prepare for the biggest battle of his life. When I first came across Ziggy, I saw a Facebook post from my cousin Mickey asking for prayers and just in a total state of shock and worry. Xavier who is her cousin was all of sudden battling this disease, entering treatments and in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.
As a mother myself, my heart broke for Ziggy’s mom Precilla who takes care of him and is by his side every step of the way! Precilla is a single mother of 5 children, Mirreya (17) Angelina (15) Xavier (11) Natalia (9) and Vincent (3) , she unexpectedly lost her fiance 2 years ago and is now dealing with this nightmare! The last thing a mother ever wants to see is her child in any pain. I immediately kept him in prayers, because prayer is a powerful thing and as Ziggy gained more and more prayer warriors behind him, he kept doing his part by fighting this ugly disease.
Going through chemo and being autistic is very hard, Xavier suffers with a sensory disorder and with the effects of the chemo its making it worse. His only way to have a chance at beating this is to find a bone marrow match, although there is more than 26 million donors on the registry list, no one was a match.
But last Wednesday Xavier and his family had their prayers answered. Out of all the people to be a perfect match, it was his little sister Natalia (9) that match all 10 strands and is able to donate her bone marrow and give her brother another chance at life! Natalia is such a strong little girl and when she found out that she was a perfect match, she said “I knew I was the one “. When Xavier found out the news he said ” It’s amazing, out of this world amazing” you can see the interview on WNEM Channel 5 here: It was so important for Xavier’s family to urge everyone they knew and didn’t know to get their bone marrow registered, because it can honestly save a life! You can find out more about getting registered with the National Bone Marrow Programs here;
For Xavier and his family they have hope that with this transplant he will be able to make a full recovery and get back to living life! As he said in his interview, he can’t wait to get home and be with his grandpa, because his grandpa is his best friend!
Natalia is set to go into surgery on Dec 8th, so please continue to keep Ziggy and his family in your prayers. With 2 children going through surgery, times are very hard for Precilla, if you are able to help and donate to the family’s Go Fund Me account you can directly link here and you can also follow Xavier’s long journey ahead of him on Facebook at Xavier’s Battle and of course prayers are free and always welcome!
My heart and prayers go out to the entire family. You can watch the heart felt video Precilla made in honor of Xavier getting a second chance at life…. It’s the most touching video and I can see why Natalia is a perfect 10!
God Bless the Escamilla Family!
Update as of Dec 2018:
After taking on another bout with cancer in June of 2018 Xavier gained his wings and is not safe from feeling pain anymore. Please keep his mom Prescilla and is family in your prayers for the hard times to come!
He is an amazing, sweet, smart boy. His motivation, and faith gives him strength like a battling warrior! I am his proud mother.
We are spreading awareness on childhood cancer. We will fight until cancer is long gone and dance in Victory forever ❤️
Precilla all your children definitely have your strength, please know we continue to pray for you all and will be sending Ziggy some of his favorite things soon! HUGS! ~Marisa
My heart goes out to Ziggy and his family. I’m so glad he has the support of his family during this difficult time! Prayers for Ziggy and his sister’s upcoming surgery and will think of ways to help! Xoxoxo