Omari might be on the shy side, but when he steps onto a football field, he comes alive. Like most high school boys, Omari loves to play video games. Once he’s completed high school, Omari has dreams of attending a college where he can continue to play football.

During his junior year, Omari began feeling fatigued. He couldn’t seem to keep his food down and had two swollen lymph nodes beneath his chin. After a workout in July, Omari started vomiting, and his mom decided to take him to the emergency room, thinking it was a virus.

They waited hours for his blood test results to find out that, due to a high count of white blood cells, it was likely that Omari had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He was transferred to St. Mary’s Hospital, where doctors discovered 70% of his white blood cells were already overtaken by leukemia. He had to begin chemotherapy immediately.

Now, Omari receives treatment once a week, but the COVID-19 pandemic has added some unprecedented challenges to an already difficult situation. In March, Omari’s mom was temporarily laid off. Luckily, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation was there to help out by taking care of things like gas expenses. Omari’s mom, Tammy, expressed that her gratitude towards organizations like ALSF for the financial and moral support they provided in a particularly difficult time goes beyond words.

Information provided by Tammy Turner, Omari’s mom
Updated June 2020