“What a long, strange trip it’s been.” David says this Grateful Dead quote sums up his almost twenty-year long cancer journey: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, three relapses, a bone marrow transplant, CAR-T, and his most recent battle with osteosarcoma. In some ways, David feels unlucky; cancer has been his whole life. But on the other hand, he feels extremely lucky to be here. Despite what life threw at him, he has survived each and every curve ball. “I’ve learned to roll with the punches. I prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.” His lifelong struggle with cancer has taught him that time is the most valuable currency you have. At twenty-six years old, David holds a deep appreciation for his life and his people.
First diagnosed with ALL at seven-years old, David was forced to mature at a young age. He spent his childhood in and out of children’s hospitals, always sure to bring a bag full of LEGOs and video games to pass the time. He remembers incorporating elements of normal life in between chemotherapies, practicing Taekwondo, joining Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, playing video games and focusing on schoolwork, but always feeling like he was behind. After several relapses and treatments, at David received a bone marrow transplant in August 2014 at age 15.
Though he was cancer free, David still grappled with post-transplant complications, the most major issue being his mobility. He struggled walking due to avascular necrosis, and his medical team decided to pursue an invasive arthroscopy that disrupted most of his senior year of high school. Yet despite all these barriers and complications, David persevered and graduated high school in 2017. David started college the next year at St. Petersburg College in pursuit of an engineering degree.
Spending most of his life in the Tampa Bay-Pinellas County area, David always wanted to move to Orlando, work at Walt Disney World, and attend the University of Central Florida to finish his degree. In 2023, he attended a job fair at Disney as a long shot to put his foot in the door, and sure enough, he got hired! He started training in a position at Mombasa Marketplace in the Africa area at Disney’s Animal Kingdom that accommodated his mobility needs. He loved working for Disney and anticipated transferring to UCF to achieve his dream of becoming a Disney Imagineer.
Unfortunately, that same year, his leukemia relapsed. David underwent CAR-T therapy to give him his best shot, and he says it was the hardest treatment he ever underwent. Then, in 2024, David was diagnosed with a new cancer: osteosarcoma. This new diagnosis led him to UF Health, where he has deeply appreciated the attention to adolescents and young adults through the AYA Oncology Program and Streetlight. He shares, “There’s been no place that handles not just kids, but that intermediate area of life. You’re in this weird age gap where you’re not quite a kid, not quite an adult. But Streetlight fits this weird in between. It’s definitely helped me still be myself through treatment.” David loved making new friends in Streetlight; he could play video games while building community and lasting friendships. Whether it was creating a virtual Disney World in Minecraft or coordinating Jackbox games in the Streetlight Discord, David faced this newest treatment with a creativity, openness, and friendliness.
As David anticipates the end of treatment, he is excited to finish his undergraduate degree in engineering. He still hopes to become a Disney Imagineer, but he also wants to prioritize building a family with his partner Shelbie. David’s cancer journey has taught him that his loved ones are his everything: “If you have the right people in your life and build a great team, you shouldn’t have too much to worry about.” He is grateful for his “team captain,” his mom, who is his best friend and the person who has been there with him through thick and thin. It is the people in his life that give him hope as he imagines his future. Cancer has taught David that time is not guaranteed, so he is using all of his time with the people he loves.
To celebrate David’s end of chemo, his medical team and Streetlight community gathered together for an EPCOT World Showcase to eat, drink, and dance around the world. Baklava from Egypt, macarons from France, pretzels from Germany, dates from Morocco, and other foods from a total of 13 countries. We also danced the Colombian cumbia, a Polish polka, some Indian garba, and an Irish jig! David got to finish out the party by ringing the bell!
