Teen’s Joyful ‘I Beat Cancer’ Announcement Strikes a Chord

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A teen’s announcement on Facebook that he is cancer-free has captured the attention of thousands of people. Jacob Munoz’s mom, Yvette, posted a photo on the Facebook page she created for her son, Jacob’s Fight, showing a beaming Jacob holding a handmade sign that read: “I beat cancer! Thank you Jesus!” The post has received more than 30,000 likes, over 3,000 shares, and more than 4,000 comments.

A year ago, then 13-year-old Jacob was hit with a severe headache and nausea. He was initially diagnosed with a migraine, but after multiple doctor visits and trips to the emergency room, the seventh grader was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

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The teen, who lives in Spring, Texas, spent the next year enduring intense treatments for the cancer. But Jacob, Yvette, and the rest of the Munoz family finally received the good news they had been praying for: “After 12 months of suffering, 8 times in ICU, being told that my son may die numerous times, after, as parents, were asked how we were going to tell our son that he may die, after Jacob’s heart, liver, pancreas, and brain were compromised, after being bound to a wheelchair, after being fed through tubes, after pain, suffering, heartbreak, and after shedding thousands of tears, tests have revealed that not one single Leukemia cell has been detected!” Yvette wrote on Facebook Feb. 5.

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Jacob (back row, center) with three of his siblings.

Jacob will continue to take oral chemotherapy medication for a full year, along with intrathecal chemotherapy delivered via spinal tap every six weeks. “We can resume the last year of this fight with peace and joy,” Yvette wrote on Facebook before thanking family, friends, and strangers for their support. “Words alone cannot express our most sincere and deep gratitude for all that you have done. You have loved and supported Jacob as one of your own. You have carried our family. You have helped ease the burden, you have loved us, you have prayed for us. What hearts of God you all have. We have a year left of our fight but we are so grateful to God. It is He who brought Jacob through thus far and I know he will continue to carry Jacob until he rings the bell and beyond. I am so overwhelmed and crying tears of joy.”

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Yvette hopes that Jacob’s story will inspire others. “I want to let people know that there’s hope,” she told ABC News. “Cancer is not a death sentence. And most of all, God hears our prayers.”

Added Jacob: “Never give up and keep fighting.”

Photos: Jacob’s Fight/Facebook

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