Dental visit leads to cancer diagnosis

KYLE, Texas (KXAN) - Imagine finding out you have leukemia from a visit to the dentist. That terrible reality is exactly what happened to a Texas State University student and his family in Kyle.

The Moreno family is a fun bunch who loves to play games, laugh and keep busy with everyday life.

But eight months ago, son Mark's simple visit to the dentist changed everything.

"I had to get a tooth pulled,  they pulled it on a Friday, " said 24-year-old Mark Moreno, "I was suppose to get better over the weekend, and it just kept getting worse and worse."

"He didn't look good. He didn't look well at all, " said Mark's dad Louis Moreno.

Louis then dropped his son off at Seton Medical Center in Hays, thinking nothing big was wrong with his only son. But 20 minutes later the doctors called Mark's dad with the bad news.

"I think your son has leukemia," Louis Moreno recalls the doctor saying on the phone. "We're going to take him to Brackenridge Hospital."

Mark, who had never had a serious illness, was shocked by the news.

"First thing that went through my mind was probably the first thing that goes through many peoples mind when they hear cancer," said Mark Moreno. " I'm going to die."

"I just tried to comfort him as much as I could as any mother would, " said Mark's mother Terri Moreno.

The 2006 Hays High School graduate, who played in the marching band and is an uncle to two little nieces and a student of Texas State San Marcos, was given a grim diagnosis: acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Since April, Mark has gone through six separate chemotherapy treatments to kill the cancer in his blood.

This was difficult for Terri as she watched her son in pain, "You don't want your child to go through that."

Hispanics only make up 10 percent of the bone marrow donors in the entire world. With no one in his family a good candidate, Mark's chances for finding a donor were growing slim.

That was until two days before Thanksgiving, when the family learned a possible donor had been found. This gave Mark a fighting chance to live another day and give hope to those facing the same battle.

Next week, Mark will go through one more chemo treatment before the stem cell transplant at M.D Anderson in Houston. Doctors tell Mark this is treatable and believe he can make a full recovery.

To become a bone marrow donor it just takes a simple mouth swab to see if you're a match.

DKMS is the worlds largest bone marrow donor center and said technology has come a long way for those who decide to help save a life. Their message is, "Get swabbed."

What use to be a painful operation  can now often be done through blood transfusion, often with few side effects. It can be done in just a few hours.

To learn more on how you can help or become a donor visit: DKMSAmericas