MEET OUR 2023 RACING FOR CANCER TRIBUTES
Kristina Burkett
Kristina is a 37 year old single mom of 3. She has an 18 year old daughter, a 15 year old son and a 6 year old son.
Her passion in life has been in childcare and that is where she has spent most of her career working. In October 2022 she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer that has spread to her liver. She is currently under treatment.
SALVATORE & RONNY MARTORANA
Salvatore Martorana was 9 months old when he was diagnosed with Unilateral Retinoblastoma in Sloan Kettering Hospital in his right eye. Salvatore underwent three rounds of chemotherapy, he was cancer free for his 1st birthday. Unfortunately his cancer came back, he had to undergo radiation this time around. After that he was officially cancer free. When Sal was 4 years old he would complain about light bothering his right eye. His doctor told us that his eye had lost all blood flow and he would need his eye enucleated. Sal has had a prosthetic eye since pre-school he is in 4th grade now. He was very embarrassed about it in the beginning but is very proud of his story now.
In 2018 Ronny Martorana was brought to his pediatrician and I told him that Ronny constantly had bruises all over him. They did a blood test and saw that his body was not producing enough platelets. Because of this he went for numerous amounts of platelet and blood transfusions in Cohen’s Children’s Hospital. After 6 months of the hospital running a ton of tests on him, they finally diagnosed him with Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Ronny needed a Bone Marrow Transplant to cure this. His perfect match was his big brother Sal. Ronny underwent his Bone Marrow Transplant in April, 2019. He was hospitalized for 5 weeks because he needed to undergo chemotherapy to wipe out his whole immune system before he could receive his stem cell transplant. Ronny had to take numerous medications after his bone marrow transplant, and he also needed to be revaccinated on all his childhood shots. He was very healthy until he was rushed to the ER at Robert Wood Johnson on March 27,2023. He was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis h-flu type F which was caused by an ear infection along with a sinus infection. I was told he was a prime candidate because he underwent chemotherapy and had a bone marrow transplant. Ronny was in the hospital for 10 days to cure this. As of today we are so grateful and thankful that both our boys are home with us healthy and happy!
Yours Truly,
The Martorana Family