MIAMI – A South Florida family is spending Christmas at Nicklaus Children's Hospital, where they have been on and off since May as their 10-year-old battles cancer.
"I woke up and saw all these presents," said Nicky Sorbelli, who is in need of a bone marrow transplant.
Santa was good to Nicky, whose Christmas included bags strung from the IV pole with care.
"I know the name of almost all the medicines," Nicky said.
On a Monday last May, the family noticed some swelling. By that Thursday, Nicky was diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma.
"It was like somebody took your feet out," said Nicky's mom, Jamie Sorbelli. "It was fast, and it was devastating."
In seven months, life on the waters off Key West turned into weekly hospital stays and chemo rounds.
"There is this one chemo that makes me so nauseous," Nicky said.
The effects of that chemo means Nicky will need a bone marrow transplant, which the family is making larger than themselves by getting everyone in the family involved in the national bone marrow donor program.
"When (the doctors) first said, 'Just so you know now, this time, he needs a bone marrow transplant,'" Nicky's dad, Wayne Sorbelli, said. "I said, 'Oh no.' I'm thinking that Frankenstein thing in my head, and to find out that it's only a blood draw."
In the national database for bone marrow donors, a simple mouth swab is all it takes to see if someone is a match for someone else in need, and unrelated matches are made all the time.
Nicky's sister, Leela Sorbelli, has a heart-shaped bruise from her blood draw.
"I'm feeling good about this," Leela said. "I think I am going to be a match, because he's my brother. Hopefully. And if I'm not, well, I'm sure we'll find someone."
The family is working to make it so.
"Just the fact we get more people on that registry means there is more opportunities for everyone to have a match," Jamie Sorbelli said.
Anyone interested in being on the national bone marrow registry can click here.
