Beyond the Court: Emilio Herreros

Playing AAU basketball wasn’t always a dream for Herreros, but walking on the court at AAU tournament he looked calm and collected. He was ready for this fight. Herreros is no stranger to a tough fight, he has actually been fighting for his life since he was three years old.

At the age of three, Herreros was diagnosed with retinoblastoma in his right eye, a form of eye cancer in the immature cells of the retina. Four years of treatment and long trips plagued Herreros’ early childhood, but his resiliency and determination to play basketball kept him pushing through. “I wanted to see better so that I could shoot better and so that I could see the court,” said Herreros. “As a point guard, you have to know and see everything.”

In 2010, he was officially diagnosed with two tumors to the Bascom Eye Center in Miami, Florida. After several rounds of chemotherapy, the good news that Herreros parents were waiting to hear never came. The tumors were still growing too close to the brain, so the doctors believed the best way to save Herrero's life was to remove the eye completely.

Not wanting to face that decision yet, Herreros’ parents decided to get a second opinion. “There is not a lot of centers in the country that treat that particular kind of cancer,” said Carlos Herreros, Emilio’s father. “There is one on the west coast, one in Philadelphia and one in Miami and New York. I originally grew up in New York and that’s one of the better ones if not the best one with the world-renowned Dr. Abramson.”

After a new assessment in New York, Herreros began commuting from Florida to New York every three and a half weeks for treatment. Now at the age of six, Herreros had gone through almost three years of chemotherapy without any results. The tumors in Herreros’ eye were becoming way too big for his body, leaving his family with two options, save the eye or save Herreros life.

Dr. Abramson gave them several weeks to think on it, sending Herrero's home without treating him during the visit. Another three and a half weeks went by, and the Herreros family found themselves back in New York ready to make their decision. “When we got back we did an eye exam, and it was the first time since we started the journey four years ago that [Herreros] had significant shrinkage in his tumors,” an elated Carlos Herreros stated.

This was huge news. All the doctors and surgeons were absolutely baffled because they never had seen something like Herreros’ progress. Herreros shortly became the ‘Miracle Child.’ Out of the over 700 eyes that the center had treated, his was the second ever to show tumor shrinkage after treatment was stopped for a significant time. “We were very very blessed,” said Carlos Herreros. “About a year after that, we got the great news that every parent anxiously awaits to hear that their kids are in remission.”

Despite having limited vision, Herreros was an active kid. “I used to play baseball, but I didn’t really like it that much,” said Herreros. “So I tried basketball. I got a trainer, and then I started playing basketball a lot. That became my new thing and I just stuck with it.” Herreros had to learn to play with athletic googles, but “the moment he picked up a basketball, he really fell in love with sports,” said Carlos Herreros. “He trains way above average for kids in his age groups. We were fortunate enough that his first team turned out to be a special team.”

Herreros would have one last battle to face to remove a cataract that formed after all of his treatments, rendering him blind in his right eye. The surgery was everything the family could hope for and restored almost all of his vision.  Herreros has now been in remission for four years, and he not only was able to save his eye but also his vision and most importantly his life.

Throughout the long ordeal, the Herreros family lived by a statement made by the father of a fellow cancer patient that Emilio befriended during treatment, “Cancer may take my son’s sight, but it will never take his vision.”