Max needed some help: the City answered

You might remember a little boy named Max who needed your help and support in climbing for a cure. Max’s dad, Lieutenant Cristian Hinojosa, is a Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) hero who selflessly protects the city’s 1.3 million residents on a daily basis. Max has an extremely rare form of cancer called Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML). The disease affects only 1.2 people per million annually.

Dallas heard Max’s call and made January 30 a day of hope for an organization trying to find a cure for blood cancer through research, education and patient services.

Team DFR’s 60 firefighter’s joined Lieutenant Hinojosa in climbing 70 stories of the Bank of American Plaza building to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The Big D Climb raised $227,884 for LLS and their mission to find a cure and improve the life of afflicted patients and their families.

The DFR Team took first place for fundraising with a total of $13,760 raised, much to the delight of Max and his dad, Lieutenant Hinojosa.

“This was a truly amazing showing by DFR with ranks represented ranging from an Assistant Chief all the way down to all of the Fire Academy recruits from classes 326 and 327,” Hinojosa said.

Currently, a stem cell transplant is the only known cure for JMML and survival rates are dismal. Max’s doctors are at a ‘watch and wait’ approach for a possible stem cell transplant or future treatment, but with the awareness and money raised through the Big D Climb, hope for a cure may one day become a reality.