Anthony Martinez sat with his 10- year-old stepdaughter in the hospital as her oxygen levels dropped and the morphine took over.
The bone cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma, had won.
“Valerie grabbed her momma’s arm, and she said, ‘Adios,”‘ Martinez said, as he recalled that day, May 29, 2004. “She was saying goodbye.
“That was the toughest little girl I’ve ever seen.”
At the same time, Martinez, 57, was battling cancer himself. After Valerie’s death, he grew progressively worse. He said he had to be strong for his family, but he struggled to even get out of bed.
His family – wife Ricarda and 5-year-old daughter Elizabeth – struggled to make ends meet. He cannot work, and his wife works three days a week. It’s not enough.
Like many with long-term health problems, his savings are gone. His money went to treatment and transportation.
“They wanted to take the house. They wanted to take the car,” Martinez said.
He travels for chemotherapy from his home in Evans, near Greeley, to the An schutz Cancer Pavilion at the University of Colorado Hospital complex at Fitzsimons in Aurora. He had a tumor removed from the back of his head in December.
But for the past two months, his mortgage has been paid for by Cops Fighting Cancer, a charitable group of police officers who help families cope with the disease. The organization is run by Aurora police officer Jim Seneca, who survived leukemia 18 years ago.
The group is raising money at a dinner and silent auction May 15 to help the Martinez family and others like them. Last year, Cops Fighting Cancer helped 25 families, Seneca said.
“It’s just simple compassion,” Seneca said. “I was spared so I could help these families.”
Martinez’s brother, Ernesto, said the group helps him view police differently than he did growing up.
“We thought they were scary. To see this is awesome,” he said. “Their job is helping people.”
He said his brother worked in heating and air conditioning and was once strong enough to haul equipment over his shoulder.
“It’s been heartbreaking. He was such a big, strong guy,” Ernesto Martinez said. “Too see him in this condition is horrifying.”
The prognosis for Anthony Martinez is not good, but he says the help from the hospital and the police officers has been a “miracle.”
“I feel much better, even though I’m losing all my hair,” Martinez said. “It gives me some hope. God is giving me a chance.”
For more information on the Cops Fighting Cancer fundraiser, call 303-363-0111.
Staff writer Sean Kelly can be reached at 303-820-1858 or skelly@denverpost.com.