User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

HUERFANO, N.M. (AP) – Leonard Begaii’s journey from hogan to homeowner was a long one.

Begaii, 32, recently moved his family of seven from a one-room hogan on family land in Huerfano into a three-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot home.

The home, compliments of Indigenous Community Enterprises, came after a decade of struggling against medical odds. Begaii’s second-oldest son, Xavier, was born with a rare chromosomal abnormality. He wasn’t expected to live past infancy.

But Xavier, 12, is beating the odds, and his will to survive sparked an outpouring of empathy in his father that saved a life nearly 2,000 miles from his home on the Navajo Nation.

“Xavier was having a lot of medical problems,” Begaii said. “It was really hard to go through something like that. There were a lot of people who helped us during that time, and I didn’t know how to say thank you. I just wanted to do something.”

Begaii’s contribution came in the form of a bone marrow donation.

When he registered for the National Marrow Donor Program by swabbing the inside of his cheek for a DNA test, he had no idea how vital his donation would be.

Alex Cesar of Juneau, Alaska, was 6 years old when he learned he needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. Cesar, whose battle with leukemia inspired a statewide drive for bone marrow in 2005, was without a donor after more than 1,000 Alaska residents registered.

A match was not easy for Alex, who is one-quarter Filipino and three-quarters Tlingit. None of the boy’s family members was a close enough match.

Tissue and bone marrow are made up of six pairs of genetic code, said Catherine Claeys, spokeswoman for the National Marrow Donor Program. The stronger the match, the less likely the body will reject the transplant.

But the belief that close matches occur among immediate family members is a myth, Claeys said.

The likelihood of finding a match among a person’s siblings or parents is only 30 percent, she said. By contrast, patients needing bone marrow transplants have a 60 to 88 percent chance of finding a donor in the general public.

Alex’s match came from a Navajo man with no known relation to the boy.

“I went and registered for the bone marrow program,” Begaii said. “They did the test, then two weeks later said I was a possible match.”

Confidentiality laws prohibited Begaii from learning where his donation was sent. His bone marrow was harvested in October 2005 in Albuquerque and transplanted to the boy in a Seattle hospital.

“All I was told was that it was a 6-year-old boy who had leukemia,” Begaii said. “That was enough.”

Although common in the medical world, bone marrow donation was a decision with which Begaii struggled. Navajo tradition frowns on the donation of organs or other body parts.

Although Begaii didn’t know Alex, he said the child’s plea for help was too loud.

“I didn’t want to disrespect the Navajo elderly,” he said, “but they also tell us not to leave someone that needs help. What Alex needed was help, and apparently I had something that he needed.”

One year after the successful transplant, Begaii opted to release his contact information to Alex’s family.

He was driving to work in the fall of 2006 when he got a phone call from a number he didn’t recognize. He answered it, but the caller was silent.

“I thought it was a telemarketer,” he said, “so I was kind of rude at first because the person on the phone was not answering. Come to find out, it was the mom, and she was broken down and crying.”

Begaii said the caller told him “You don’t know me, but my name is Rachel. I’m calling from Juneau, Alaska. Your bone marrow helped my son.”

“It stopped me in my tracks,” he said of the call.

Begaii’s relationship with Rachel Dugaqua and Alex Cesar blossomed over the next six months, and by spring of 2007, Begaii was eager to meet the boy. Alex’s family paid travel expenses for Begaii and eight members of his family to fly to Juneau.

Alex’s family adopted Begaii’s, even giving the Navajo family honorary Tlingit names and clans.

“It was hard to walk away from that after feeling so welcome,” Begaii said. “They said we would always be a part of their family.”

Begaii and his wife, Rhea Begaii, moved from a small home in Bloomfield four years ago to a hand-built hogan on family land in Huerfano.

The family endured rough conditions in the one-room hogan as it waited for a response for aid from Indigenous Community Enterprises. The nonprofit housing assistance organization works with low-income American Indian families.

Qualifying families often have personal or medical problems, said Hazel James, executive director of Indigenous Community Enterprises. Families also must already have land site leases and access to utilities.

In Begaii’s case, factors that contributed to a thumbs-up on housing assistance included his son’s handicap and the man’s donation to an Alaska Native.

“Things have come around in a good way for them,” James said. “We want to thank (Begaii) on behalf of the family he helped.”

Approval came about two and a half years after Begaii applied, and construction on the home began in April. The Begaii family was one of two in Huerfano to move into an ICE-funded home this year.

“They went from hogan to house,” Chapter President Ben Woody said. “Lots of people are living in hogans, but one house can make a big difference in the community.”

The chapter raised $30,000 for Begaii’s house. ICE contributed $120,000, James said. ICE usually requires new homeowners to take out a mortgage to cover part of the cost, but in Begaii’s case, the title came with the keys.

“We’re all excited about it,” Begaii said, “but we have been excited since they poured the cement.”