Jalen Hinton

Jalen Hinton was enjoying the college experience at Murray State University, pursuing a computer science degree alongside his friends. Jalen was happy with where he was in life, and the last thing he was thinking about was something being wrong with his health.

When Jalen realized one day that he couldn’t run up and down the basketball court like he usually could, he knew something was wrong. He visited an urgent care facility, where several tests were done, including an EKG. When they noticed he was pale under his eyes, they decided to run some blood work.

Later that day, Jalen received a phone call that he needed to come to the hospital immediately for blood and platelets transfusion.

Jalen soon met with Mohamed Hegazi, M.D., a hematologist oncologist with UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center – Blood Cancers, Cellular Therapeutics and Transplant Progrm. Dr. Hegazi knew right away that Jalen was suffering from aplastic anemia. However, this could not be officially diagnosed without a bone marrow biopsy.

When the diagnosis was confirmed, Dr. Hegazi explained in depth to Jalen and his parents what that meant for him. He shared with them lots of pamphlets, books and websites, while explaining what the process would be like.

Jalen and his family needed to make a decision on where he would be treated for this condition. On one hand, they lived two and a half hours away in Owensboro, Ky., so it would be a long drive to see Dr. Hegazi. On the other hand, they could tell that Dr. Hegazi was not only well educated, but he knew what needed to be done to save Jalen’s life.

“We evaluated our options and from there we decided that Dr. Hegazi was probably the best fit because he gave us everything we wanted to know. Any questions we had were already answered,” Jalen said. “We felt pretty confident putting our trust in him.”

Some individuals with aplastic anemia can manage the condition with blood transfusions and occasional chemotherapy. In Jalen’s case, without a bone marrow transplant, it was fatal.

For months, Jalen received blood transfusions and waited to find a match for his bone marrow transplant. Both his sister and his brother ended up being partial matches. Jalen’s care team decided to use the bone marrow from his sister, who was a 50% match.

After waiting for months, Jalen had days’ worth of chemotherapy and radiation ahead of him to suppress his immune system before the transplant could take place. These precautions were in place to help prevent conditions that would leave Jalen battling the diagnosis for the rest of his life.

While he received care from the Blood Cancer, Cellular Therapeutics and Transplant Program team, Jalen never felt stressed. Despite reactions to medicine he was taking, the team never faltered as they cared for him, always knowing exactly what to do.

“All of the hospital staff and nurses that were taking care of me were great,” Jalen said. “Thankfully, they handled everything perfectly.”

Jalen’s bone marrow transplant was over one year ago, and he is feeling great.

“My road was going to be fatal,” Jalen said. “I’m supposed to live a long happy life now, thanks to the care I received.”

Though Jalen never expected something like this to happen to him while he was so young, he is now able to live a normal life, and was able to spend some time reflecting on his life before going back to school.

“I took the time to think positive and to stay at home, focus on my career, what I wanted to advance at, and what I wanted to be good at.”

He was even able to pick up a few new hobbies and got to socialize with everyone back in Owensboro.

While Louisville is not close to Jalen and his family, they knew where they needed to be. With much appreciation, Jalen remembers how the team worked with programs to get his family gas cards and places to stay so that he could get the care that he needed.

Because of Dr. Hegazi and his team at UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center, Jalen is living life. After all, at only 21, he has a lot of life left to live. 

How can we help you?

Connecting with our team of specialists at UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center is the first step in getting treatment.