4-Year-Old OKC Boy Battles Rare Kidney Cancer Ahead Of Holidays

Jett Martinez, a four-year-old boy from Oklahoma City, will spend Christmas Eve receiving chemotherapy for a rare form of kidney cancer, his parents told News 9 on Monday. 

It started with a tummy ache in October. 

Jett was at church with his family when his stomach began to hurt. His mother Amber found a lump on his side. Urgent care sent the family to the emergency room. 

“Then they did some scans and that’s when they found the mass tumor on his kidney,” said Michael Martinez, Jett’s dad. 

Doctors diagnosed Jett with a Wilm’s Tumor or nephroblastoma. A specialist working for the hospital explained the situation to Jett using play dough. 

"There could have been another type of kidney cancer, but it was Wilms, which is the higher treatable one. So, we were really thankful that-- I mean, it's weird to say you're thankful about something with cancer-- but it was the better prognosis," Amber said. 

Doctors removed the tumor in October when Jett started receiving chemo. 

“He does good once we get there, but it's really hard each morning when he says ‘Mama is today a hospital day? Do I have to do chemo today?’ And he's so thankful when it's not and when it is, we have some tears,” Amber explained. “But once we get there, he knows the process now.” 

Michael pointed out that it will be a ‘home-for-the-holidays' type of year, as Jett, who loves playing with transformers and swinging on the swing set, is set to receive chemo on Christmas Eve. 

“I would switch bodies with him immediately and take all this instead of him, and I can’t, and so that’s really hard,” Michael added. 

The Martinez family said it wants other families to take advantage of the time they have with their children. 

“When you see your baby laying in a hospital bed and they can't play with you, and you can't take away the pain, it just makes you want to go back home and be able to play with them all those times that they asked you to,” Amber said. 

You can support Jett’s recovery by donating to the GoFundMe here.