Ailing Fairfield boy realizes dream, visits Obama
Jabril Debrow, who suffers from a rare cancer, gets an autograph from Sacramento King Kevin Martin before Tuesday's game. One of Jabril's wishes was to meet Kings players.
Jabril Debrow's type of kidney cancer is so rare that only 140 cases have been documented, ever.
The fourth-grader from Fairfield was diagnosed in October with renal medullary carcinoma, a malady doctors discovered just 20 years ago. Its cause is a mystery, though researchers have found a linkage to sickle cell traits. Patients usually live five months after diagnosis.
More than four months in, Jabril's body is struggling – but his mind and spirit are soaring.
In his condition, it is common for charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation to step in and make something good happen. In November the foundation asked Jabril for his one wish.
For several days he wrestled with the question: A PlayStation 3? A laptop? A flat-screen TV?
In the end, he said, there was one wish his thoughts kept returning to: a meeting with President Barack Obama.
"He's just awesome," he said. "Awesome" is Jabril's highest praise. His usually soft voice turns deep and robotic when he says the word. He's been obsessed with the president for the past year, because Obama "wants to make the world a better place."
Make-A-Wish made it happen; Jabril met with Obama in December, then wrote a book about it.
This week he got a bonus wish fulfilled: He attended his first Kings game, sitting courtside and meeting his favorite players.
Jabril is so thin he disappears under his trendy red hoodie and black puffy jacket. Despite his stature he acts like an adult: There's no fidgeting typical of preteen boys. He's fond of minimalist, grand statements.
When his mother cries over his cancer, 10-year-old Jabril comforts her. When the nurse takes five blood samples, he looks her in the eye, unfazed.
That mature veneer melted away, however, when Jabril entered the White House.
He said Obama poked his head out of the Oval Office and said, "Hey Jabril, how are you doing?"
"His mouth was hanging open," said his mother, Jennifer Debrow. "And then Jabril asked him, 'How do you bowl in the White House?' "
Obama laughed, Jabril said, and invited him to bowl a few frames if he wanted to. The president then advised Jabril to do well in school, and gave him a yo-yo and some M&Ms.
When they came back, Jabril wrote a book, "Wishes Do Come True," about his experience with cancer and his trip to the White House.
"I want other kids who get sick to not be scared," he said.
Jabril's grave prognosis is due to the cancer's aggressiveness and rarity. Because so few cases have been diagnosed, it took doctors five months to figure out what he had.
Last May, his mother noticed Jabril was losing weight and there was blood in his urine. In June, his blood pressure started rising. His mother wasn't worried because he had never been really sick before.
"Blood in the urine is a symptom for a lot of things," said his doctor Inessa Gofman, a UC Davis fellow in pediatric hematology oncology.
It wasn't until Jabril had an episode of excruciating abdominal pain that doctors ran a CT scan, revealing the tumor in his kidney. The cancer had already spread to his liver and lungs.
Such a rare cancer is difficult to treat, Gofman said, because there's no standard of care. The only literature that exists on renal medullary carcinoma treatment are individual case studies.
One of the only things known about renal medullary carcinoma is the majority of patients – Jabril included – also have sickle cell trait. Sickle cell trait means a person carries one of two genes necessary for sickle cell disease, a condition where red blood cells form an abnormal, curved shape.
Gofman said it does not mean sickle cell trait – which afflicts mostly African Americans – in any way causes renal medullary carcinoma.
There are over 300 million people with sickle cell trait, she said.
"It's really a mystery," she said.
At Tuesday's Kings game, Jabril and his family sat courtside, watching the players warm up. One by one, they took a break from shooting hoops to kneel down and introduce themselves to the 4-foot-5 Jabril. Tyreke Evans was teary-eyed after meeting him.
"Mom, I had such a good time I forgot I had cancer," Jabril said.
Jabril Debrow bowls at the White House bowling alley last month after meeting with President Barack Obama, who also gave him a yo-yo and M&Ms. Jabril wrote a book, "Wishes Do Come True," about his experience with cancer and his trip to the White House.