Julian Palacios, 16, was sure the Dodgers would make it to the World Series this year. He was determined to be there to see it too.
“I just knew this was their year. They had great pitching, great bullpen,” he said.
Trouble was, a couple months ago, the Dodgers weren’t in the World Series yet and Palacios’ leukemia resurged.
Palacios comes from a family of loyal Dodgers fans and so it wasn’t a surprise for his doctor to hear that he was more interested in his beloved Los Angeles baseball team than his upcoming bone marrow transplant operation.
Rosenthal commended Palacios’ positive attitude—an important ingredient in fighting a disease as insidious as leukemia, a blood cancer.
Palacios suffered from the disease since he was 10. It was in remission, but recently became active again.
Seeing his patient’s enthusiasm, Rosenthal wanted to make sure Palacios made it to the game. With help of his colleague, Dr. Stephen Forman, and a social worker, they contacted a former patient who got the tickets for Palacios.
The boy was ecstatic.
“I couldn’t even sleep last night. It was like being a kid again and going to Disneyland for the first time,” he said.
He left for the Game 2 of the series on Oct. 25 straight from the hospital. He went with his uncle—it had always been their plan to go together.
Palacios will return home on Friday. He’s looking forward to returning to school. He wants to be an engineer.
What about the Dodgers loss? That hadn’t stopped their loyal fan before. He just wanted to thank everyone who made it happen.
“I just want to thank them and tell them I just can’t thank them enough for this opportunity—only once in 29-year opportunity,” Palacios said.
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