Eight-year-old Kai Quinonez to Join Ranks of Heroes Today

There are no age requirements for heroes, and Hopkinson Elementary School second-grader Kai Quinonez is ready to take his place among the ranks of heroes who come to the rescue during a natural disaster or major crisis.

Today, Kai will join 60 volunteers in graduating from the West Orange County Community Emergency Response Team (West County CERT). Kai developed an interest in the team when it helped to set up his bone marrow drive in March. Kai has aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease that limits the production of blood cells

The graduates are volunteers from Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and Westminster who are trained in emergency preparedness. They are the ones who support emergency crews during earthquakes, tsunamis, fires and major incidents.

“Kai just thought it was really cool, and he just started asking one of our volunteers a bunch of questions about how he can join,” said Todd T. De Voe, the team’s Emergency Services Coordinator. “I think he was impressed because we have a lot of gear – a truck and trailer, and the guy’s have cool uniforms. He knows they are going out to help people and respond to events such as storms or tsunamis.”

During the graduation ceremony this afternoon at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base, Kai will be named an honorary member of the team.

“Kia is all excited,” said his father Gus Quinonez. “He really liked what they were doing at his bone marrow drive.”

In recent weeks, Kai has been through a series of ups and downs. For the first time in months, he was well enough to return to school, but improvements from his chemotherapy treatments ebb and flow. After going weeks without requiring blood transfusions, he has once again become dependent upon them.

The fall and winter were tough for the Quinonez family. It was last fall that Kai’s parents noticed dark bruises on his back. It wasn’t long after that Kai was blood transfusion-dependent, stuck in the hospital on bad days and restricted to the house on good days. Kai is undergoing the first of two six-month chemotherapy treatments. However, if the chemotherapy fails to heal him, he will need a bone marrow transfusion and a donor.

The community has rallied around Kai, hosting two bone marrow drives and fundraisers to help pay for  his medical bills.

Four months into his chemotherapy, there have been some positive signs, said Gus Quinonez. “There has been less of the scary stuff, fewer hospital stays,” he said. “These are positive signs, and that keeps us going for the time being.”

Kai is in a good place right now said Gus Quinonez.

“He loves school, and he loves all his friends,” said Gus Quinonez. “And he is really excited to be an honorary member of the (CERT) Team.”