WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — This year, the Tree of Hope will be lit by Noah Camacho, 18, from Williamsville. Camacho recently received his cancer diagnosis and also recently finished his treatments.
"I can't wait to do it. I think it's going to be a very fun, but interesting, event," said Camacho.
Camacho's journey that led him to become this year's Tree of Hope Lighter started last spring during his senior year of high school.
"I started having a cough. Like just a normal cough. They thought that it was allergies, so my doctor started prescribing like allergy medicine," said Camacho.
And when that didn't work, they thought it might be asthma, but asthma treatments didn't help. Then, they tried steroids, but they didn't help either, so Camacho went back to the hospital.
"A CT scan and of like my upper body and then the next day, we got back and the scans shows a mass by my heart, and I was diagnosed three days before my 18th birthday," said Camacho.
Camacho was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.
He started chemotherapy in August for 15 weeks and just finished his treatments a few weeks ago.
Camacho's doctor, Dr. Matthew Barth, says Roswell's programs to help patients who are moving from adolescence to young adulthood are a great resource for people in Camacho's age group. Dr. Barth is also happy Camacho is lighting the tree this year.
"This is, I think, the first time we've had an older adolescent do it, which is kind of nice to recognize that patient population that really has, you know, some unique characteristics to it and kind of falls in between the focus many times from the pediatrics and adults," said Dr. Matthew Barth. "It's exciting to have somebody able to highlight that population and participate with the tree lighting."
This year's tree lighting also holds special meaning for Camacho and his family because his mom has worked at Roswell for more than 28 years.
"I never thought I'd be on the other side of the fence, so to speak, because of having him in the pediatric clinic now and it's been incredible, I mean, the staff, the doctors, the nurses, the secretaries, everyone has been absolutely phenomenal with us," said Sue Camacho, Noah's mom.
"It offers hope to everyone else that's going through this in that we do have such a wonderful place in Buffalo where we can go and get top quality treatment," said Martin Camacho, Noah's dad.
While going through treatment, Camacho put his college plans on pause.
"I took a computer programming class in my junior year of high school, and I just really enjoyed it," said Camacho.
Next fall, Camacho will be heading to St. Bonaventure, where he plans on majoring in cybersecurity and computer science.