Burbank teen beats cancer twice

BURBANK, Calif. - A 14-year-old boy from Burbank defeated cancer for a second time.  

Alexander Darbinyan was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 6 years old. After intense chemo treatment, followed by another couple years of daily chemo and monthly infusions, he was cancer free and doing great.  

That is until his mother noticed something wasn’t quite right, even though doctors were confident that Alex would never relapse.  

His blood work confirmed what his mother feared most... the cancer was back and this time around, it could only be treated with a bone marrow transplant. 

The Armenian community came together and organized several recruitment drives. Thousands of people got swabbed, they came close, but no one was a 100% match. 

Finally, it was decided that Alex’s sister, who was only a 50% match, would provide stem cells to save his life with a new treatment plan. 

Alex did have some complications and is currently in isolation as his body heals.  

But, he beat cancer again and just turned 14 years old.