When Dr. Nick Mondek learned his acute myeloid leukemia had returned, the diagnosis felt like a closing door. His brother’s stem cell donation had bought him time once before, but now there was no match in his family, none in the National Bone Marrow Registry, and no clear path forward. As an anesthesiologist, he understood the odds too well; as a father, he thought most about the two children who might soon lose him.
Then doctors suggested testing his 10-year-old son, Stephen. The idea was terrifying, yet it offered the only sliver of hope. Stephen didn’t hesitate. He endured the hospital procedures, the needles, the long hours, and never once complained. On July 30, his stem cells flowed into his father’s body, quietly rewriting a future that had seemed already decided. Weeks later, tests showed no trace of leukemia. Today, Stephen is back at baseball practice, and Nick wakes up each morning knowing his second chance came from the smallest hero in the room.
