Markisa Deloach is a 27-year-old single parent who raises her sons, Kaiden Starks, 4, and Jamari Starks, 11, with love that knows no limitation. She pushes them to respect women, follow their dreams and think beyond what they see from their two-bedroom, single-family home in Brownsville.

But life hasn’t been easy. In December 2020, Kaiden was diagnosed with autism. A year later, the family brought in the new year with news that Jamari had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in the abdomen that has a five-year survival rate of only 15%.

“I just think positive and I come up with a routine that is going to work for them,” Deloach said. “Because if I fail, then I fail them. Nobody is going to take care of them like I do. They need me.”

Deloach grew up in Brownsville, where she was raised by her grandmother, Diane McClover, whom she describes as her best friend and number-one supporter. At the tender age of 16, Deloach became pregnant with Jamari. But she kept studying and graduated from Miami Central High School.

She began her professional career in retail and later transitioned to working for Kent Security in North Miami. During the pandemic she enrolled in Miami Dade College with the aim of becoming a medical sonographer.

Deloach had to put her studies on hold, though, soon after she learned of Jamari’s diagnosis.

Before that, Kaiden was the one who seemed to face the biggest obstacles. His speech was not developing. He would throw tantrums that sometimes lasted almost an hour, learned to walk later than usual, and was not advancing cognitively at school.

“I went to the mall one day and just before I left, he had an outburst,” Deloach said. “I said, ‘My son is autistic.’”

Deloach got in contact with Parent To Parent, a nonprofit organization in Kendall that specializes in helping families with special-needs children and that later nominated Deloach’s family for the Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald Wish Book program.

‘She is a fighter’

“She is a warrior mom,” said Danielle Leys, who is a Parent to Parent outreach coordinator and has been working closely with the family. “She has a strong will, she is a fighter, she is loving.”

Jamari seemed to be doing better than Kaiden. He had lived a relatively normal childhood, enjoying the outdoors and playing both offense and defensive line in youth football.

But then one December day, Deloach recalls, Jamari was riding his electric scooter outside when he fell over onto his stomach. She took him to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, where doctors didn’t see anything wrong at first and sent the two home. But the pain continued and one ultrasound later, they discovered a five-pound tumor the size of a football in his stomach. He was diagnosed with a cancer that is both rare and deadly.

“I felt like I was in a dream,” Jamari said.

His mom adds: “I don’t know how I got through that. I just knew I had to get through it because I couldn’t break in front of him.”

The first treatment was chemotherapy. Then came blood and platelet transfusions. He often fought not to take medication because of side effects including fatigue and hair loss. Other kids made light of his situation.

“I remember one day, my mom was getting ready to take me to chemo, and I just wanted to say, ‘I don’t want to do this no more, I just want to die,’” Jamari recalled.

On May 26, 2022, doctors performed surgery that lasted almost 14 hours. They removed 100% of the tumor. A scan in late November was clean.

“I was more excited for him than he was for himself,” Deloach said. “It just showed me that God will get you through anything.”

Grant a wish. Make a difference.

How to help: Wish Book is trying to help this family and hundreds of others in need this year. To donate, pay securely at MiamiHerald.com/wishbook.

Thankfully, insurance has covered most of Jamari’s medical expenses so far, but Deloach’s struggles continue. She has to take him to screenings multiple times a week and to take Kaiden to therapy.

With all of the medical visits, she has been unable to work. She has no financial help from her family, survives on food stamps and has no one to watch the kids. It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay above water, she says.

From Wish Book, Kaiden would like an iPad to help him communicate. Deloach requests gift cards to buy groceries, gas and Christmas presents.

“Being a mom, that’s my life. Everything else comes second,” Deloach said. “Just thinking of them keeps me going.”

How to help

To help this Wish Book nominee and the more than 100 other nominees who are in need this year:

▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or emailWishbook@MiamiHerald.com

▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans

▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

This story was written for Florida International University’s South Florida Media Network.