NewsHanley meets young cancer patient
Marlins shortstop gives 10-year-old a chance to live dreams
By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com
07/28/09 7:39 PM ET
MIAMI -- Not too long ago, Jackie and Dennis Camacho weren't even sure how long their son would be alive.Back on June 24, 2008, 9-year-old Sebastian Camacho was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, and his parents immediately thought the worst.
"Honestly, when we found out, we thought it was terminal," Jackie Camacho said.
Now, though, not only is Sebastian in remission and cancer-free, but he was healthy as a fish while gliding on the field at Land Shark Stadium before the opener of a three-game series against the Braves on Tuesday.
He even played himself up to the level of superstar Hanley Ramirez.
Sebastian, who was a special visitor of Ramirez's as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, got his own locker in the Marlins' clubhouse -- right next to the Marlins' shortstop -- a personalized No. 11 jersey, batting gloves and an authentic "H2R" Ramirez fielding glove.
"You've got a lot of wishes, and when you have a chance to make one of those kids' dreams come true, I think that's an awesome feeling for me," Ramirez said.
"I'm the guy who can make his wish come true. ... I can't wait to take him on the field and show him around."
Mere minutes later, that's exactly what Ramirez did.
Sebastian -- who underwent chemotherapy from June to December, then radiation treatment in January and February at nearby Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital -- played catch along the first-base line with Ramirez, took part in batting practice on the field -- which he said was his favorite part -- and even stood at shortstop to field a grounder and turn a 6-4-3 double play with Ramirez as his second baseman.
"It was fun," said Sebastian, now a 10-year-old who's going into the fifth grade at Dolphin Bay Elementary School in Pembroke Pines, Fla. "It was good. It was a good feeling."
Sebastian's road to recovery started last summer, when his parents noticed a lump on his lymph gland in an Orlando, Fla., water park. Weeks after doctors incorrectly diagnosed it as mononucleosis, they found out it was cancerous. And the first round of medication made it spread to the lower part of his body, so Sebastian spent five straight days in the hospital receiving stronger medicine.
But Sebastian, a Marlins fan since he was a toddler, landed right back on his feet.
"When he got sick last year, it was just something that just really took us by surprise," said Jackie about Sebastian, who still has to go the hospital every six months for the next five years for checkups. "But he didn't give up his dreams anyway, because the first thing he wanted to do was he wanted to meet the Marlins. He wanted to continue playing baseball -- and he still played baseball during the treatment. He would get tired, but he would continue still because he never lost that faith. And neither did we."
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
