Abel Fonseca is a San Benito native, boxer, boxing coach, and a longtime Site Coordinator for the San Benito CISD ACE Program at Miller Jordan Middle School and Collegiate Academy. He can be reached at afonseca@sbcisd.net.
My battle with cancer began in 2018 with a sudden, overwhelming diagnosis.
Sitting next to my wife, I listened to the doctor insist on starting immediate treatment without telling me what was wrong. I had to ask him directly before he finally revealed the diagnosis: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
The fear in my wife’s red, teary eyes was heartbreaking, but it only solidified my resolve. The doctor asked if I needed a moment alone, but I refused.
I didn’t have time to sit in a corner and cry—I had a war to win. Facing total uncertainty, I locked away my fear and stepped straight into the fight.
The treatments were unimaginably brutal. It often felt as though the chemotherapy was eating me up from the inside out, destroying my body in an effort to save it.
The radiation was so intense that it caused severe bleeding, a terrifying physical toll that tested my limits every single day. Then came pneumonia.
It settled deep into my lungs, making it incredibly difficult to breathe. In those moments, when every breath was a struggle, it was my constant prayers that sustained me and carried me through.
During that difficult time, I experienced one of the greatest acts of love I have ever known.
My brother, a soldier who serves our country, became the person who helped save my life. We discovered that his T-cells were a perfect match.
Without hesitation, he left his duties, traveled to MD Anderson, and donated his T-cells so that I could live. He doesn’t just defend our nation—he literally gave me a second chance at life.
Walking through those hospital doors, he brought the miracle I so desperately needed.
His sacrifice reminded me that even in our darkest moments, we are never truly alone. Sometimes strength comes not from what we can do ourselves, but from the people willing to stand beside us and carry us when we cannot carry ourselves.
The days were long, and there were moments when the road ahead seemed impossible to see. Less than a year later, after the cancer, I developed graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), bringing a new set of challenges just when I thought I had already faced enough.
Yet through every hospital stay, every treatment, and every setback, I learned something powerful: no one fights alone.
The Gift of Community
One of the greatest gifts I received during my journey was the support of my family, friends, and the community.
I remember the visitors who came to see me in the hospital. Some stayed for hours. Some stopped by briefly just to let me know they were thinking about me.
Every visit mattered. Every conversation mattered. Every prayer, text message, and act of kindness reminded me that I was not alone.
When you are facing something as life-changing as cancer, support becomes a form of medicine all its own. It gives you strength on the days when your body is weak. It gives you hope when fear tries to take over.
Cancer taught me many lessons, but perhaps the most important lesson was about community. Sometimes life itself can be like cancer. Negativity can spread. Division can spread.
Hopelessness can spread. If we ignore these things, they can slowly affect our families, neighborhoods, and communities.
But just as we work to fight disease, we can work to build healthier lives and healthier communities.
Eating healthier, exercising, caring for our mental health, and supporting one another can make a difference. Small actions can lead to lasting change.
More importantly, we must never stop showing up for each other.
The people who visited me in the hospital may never fully understand how much their presence meant.
They reminded me that even during the darkest moments, there was still light. They showed me that community is not just a word; it is people choosing to care.
Today, I am grateful for every challenge I have overcome and every person who walked beside me during those difficult years.
My journey has shown me that strength is not about facing hardship alone. True strength comes from accepting help, giving help, and refusing to quit.
I could not quit because I had my family. I had my friends. I had people who believed in me even when I struggled to believe in myself.
As a community, we cannot quit on each other either.
Life will always bring challenges. Some battles are physical. Some are emotional. Some are unexpected. But when we come together, support one another, and choose compassion over indifference, we become stronger than any challenge we face.
Six years after my leukemia diagnosis and GVHD, I faced another major challenge: open-heart surgery.
Once again, I found myself confronting uncertainty. Once again, I found myself relying on my faith and the incredible people who have stood by me throughout my life.
That experience reminded me that life’s struggles do not always end after one battle. Sometimes new challenges arrive when we least expect them.
What matters is how we face them and who stands beside us along the way.
Through leukemia, bleeding, pneumonia, graft-versus-host disease, and open-heart surgery, I am still here.
My story is living proof that even when your body is failing you, the combination of faith, an unwavering community, and the bond of family can carry you through what seems impossible.
My story is not simply about cancer. It is about resilience, hope, gratitude, and the incredible power of people coming together. It is proof that even in life’s hardest moments, we can find strength in one another.
And that may be the greatest medicine of all.
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