Owen Hogan, 2, received a bone marrow transplant last month and was able to return home from the hospital last week.
There is no place like home.
For 2-year-old Owen Hogan and his family, that statement could not be more true.
In November, The Forum wrote about Owen’s family’s search for a bone marrow donor for the toddler, who was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia – a potentially fatal disease in which the bone marrow does not make enough blood cells for the body – last year.
After teaming up with the organization Delete Blood Cancer and searching for months, a donor was found – and Owen received his transplant in January. And last week, Owen, a rambunctious toddler who, no matter how many times he was in and out of the hospital, never failed to be a spirited little boy with a penchant for toy firetrucks, was able to return home with his father, Tim Hogan, a firefighter with Engine 216 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, mother Kathleen, and younger brother Ethan.
“This person really gave Owen a second chance at life,” Tim Hogan said. “Words can’t express how thankful we are. It almost sounds foolish to say thank you because it goes nowhere near how we’re feeling.”
The Hogan family, who recently moved from Bellerose to New Hyde Park, won’t be able to meet the donor for at least a year for legal reasons, but the father said they definitely want to in the future.
“The importance of being a donor – well, you can’t say how important it is,” Tim Hogan said. “You’re giving somebody their second chance at life. With Owen, he was one cold or one infection away from a very serious situation.”
While little Owen is not completely in the clear – it takes about a full year for life to truly start seeming normal and it’s not until five years have passed that doctors say someone is completely in remission – he is once again settling into a life that is more about playing and less about trips to the hospital.
And while life has not reverted back to full-fledged normalcy, Tara Schuh, communications director for Delete Blood Cancer, said Owen’s spirits, and his parents’ attitude, are an inspiration.
“He is the most positive little boy,” she said. “Tim and Kathleen have created this wonderful environment surrounded by positivity.”
Both Schuh and the Hogan family stressed the importance of being a donor and urged individuals to become part of the bone marrow registry.
“The more people on the registry, the more people we can help,” Schuh said. “The more people help, the more lives can be saved.”
For more information about Owen and his story, visit www.aheroforowen.com. More information about becoming a donor can be found at DeleteBloodCancer.org.
By Anna Gustafson
