Pride of Australia 2014: Teen’s journey an inspiration

SANTO Celi struggles to relate to other kids his age. While his peers have been lobbying for an Xbox, or trying to get out of homework, the 14 year old has been dealing with matters of life and death.

SANTO Celi struggles to relate to other kids his age. That’s not surprising, really; while his peers have been lobbying for an Xbox, or trying to get out of homework, the 14 year old has been dealing with matters of life and death.

For the past six years, Santo has been seriously ill. From cancer to steroid-induced osteoporosis, this teenager has dealt with more health crises than most people face in a lifetime, yet, amazingly, seems to have conquered them all.

Despite missing four years of learning, and suffering memory problems due to the radiation treatment, he is back at school and “he is doing brilliantly, his teachers are so pleased with his progress,” his mother Maria said.

Santo Celi, 14, with his mum Maria at their home in Leeton, NSW. Santo was diagnosed with cancer just before he turned eight

The first diagnosis came just before Santo turned eight. It was acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and he and his family, from Leeton near Griffith, had to commute for seven hours to The Children’s Hospital in Sydney for chemotherapy.

He was in remission for six months when he relapsed.

This time, more intensive chemo and a bone-marrow transplant were required. Santo was bedridden for seven months, while his mother lived at Ronald McDonald House and his father, brothers and sister travelled from Leeton on weekends.

The chances of the bone marrow transplant going smoothly were high; his donor was his brother, and it was a perfect match. The ­operation pushed him into­ ­remission. But about three months later, Santo developed graft versus host disease, when the body treats the new marrow as an invader and attacks it.

The disease crippled his body and required strong steroids, mother Maria said. “He was on steroids for more than 12 months, that’s what caused the problem with the bones.” Eventually, the disease went away, but the “problem with the bones” was steroid-induced osteoporosis, which left Santo in crippling pain. Santo lost four years of school. Scholastically, he’s behind, yet in many ways he’s more ­mature than his peers.

For his courage in the face of pain and uncertainty, Santo has been nominated for the Pride of Australia’s Child of Courage medal.