National Donor Day: A Brother’s Love

Nathaniel and little brother Noel

Meet Nathaniel, a Compass to Care kid braving cancer with the help of his little brother.

“Nathaniel fell sick in March and was diagnosed with Leukemia in April 2020. This came as a very big shock to us, not knowing the next step.” Josephine, Nathaniel’s mom shared with us about the start of her son’s cancer journey.

Nathaniel is a 13-year-old young man that lives in New York with his mother and younger brother, Noel. Nathaniel is the quiet type while Noel is “cheeky… always up to something!” They are a close family, and the boys are always there for one another, even though they are quite different. The brothers love playing video games together, especially racing games, strategy games, and Minecraft. They miss the life they had before cancer and before COVID-19. Most of all they miss going to the movies. Because of treatment Nathaniel is not able to get his COVID-19 vaccine which is required by the movie theater, but treatment is a bigger priority than the movies right now.

After his cancer diagnosis, Nathaniel’s medical team began working on a treatment plan to get him into remission. That, however is just the first step in his journey for a cure. After he is in remission, he will need to undergo a bone marrow transplant. His brother Noel, at just 8 years old, has agreed to be Nathaniel’s bone marrow transplant donor!

Things have been hard over the past year. Nathaniel’s mom is the sole caregiver and not able to work while caring for Nathaniel. This makes the miles to get Nathaniel to treatment almost impossible. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, Compass to Care has stepped in and provided 32 trips to cancer treatment to support Nathaniel and his family.

“Compass to Care has made a very huge difference to us getting to his appointments, I do not know what we would have done without your help.”

Here’s to 2022 bringing a cancer remission, an opportunity to return to the movies, and more time for brothers to play video games together.