A CHANCE AT LIFE; TRANSPLANT'S SUCESS HAS FAMILY URGING ON DONORS.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

The candle Alejandra Navarro lighted when she learned her firstborn had leukemia still flickers in her kitchen, even though her desperate prayers for a cure have been answered.

It's been one year since Amador Navarro, now 7, was transfused with lifesaving bone marrow from an anonymous donor. The search for a bone marrow match was arduous because there are so few ethnic minorities registered to donate. For Amador, who is Latino, the chances were one in a million.

But thanks to the transplant, not only will Amador have a chance at the life that he dreams of, but he is an example to others. Today, chubby-cheeked Amador and his family will host a bone marrow drive in their parish to encourage others to register as bone marrow donors.

``I'm going to live a happy life because I left the hospital, and now I'm healthy,'' said Amador, who wants to be a computer technician when he grows up.

The drive, sponsored by the American Red Cross, will be held at Santa Rosa Church at 668 Workman St. in San Fernando from noon to 5 p.m.

``For me, Amador's completely cured,'' said Alejandra Navarro, 34. ``When we were searching for the bone marrow match it was an eternity. Time passed by very slowly, but this year passed by quickly.''

For the Navarros, the hope that they would one day be able to personally thank and meet the New Mexico woman who donated her bone marrow to Amador may finally come true. The two families spoke last week and are making plans to meet in Los Angeles this January.

Despite a bout with graft-vs.-host disease, when the bone marrow cells attack the body, Amador responded extremely well to the transplant, said Dr. Ken Weinberg of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

``Getting to one year is a crucial milestone,'' Weinberg said as he examined Amador last week at the hospital. ``It means you got through the hardest part (of it).''

``It also means that as time goes by the chance of getting the leukemia goes down and the chance of becoming cured goes up,'' Weinberg said.

Leukemia has recurred in patients seven or eight years after a bone marrow transplant, so Weinberg said it will be another year before he'll feel confident that Amador is safely out of harm's way.

Alejandra Navarro, meanwhile, said she will keep the flame burning.

``For me it's a tradition,'' she said. ``I got the candle for him, and I'll keep it lighted as long as I can whether he's healthy or not.''

Where once Amador used to tell his mother that God was going to ``take him away,'' Amador now says he's cured.

He still remembers the painful shots during his hospital stay last winter, but he also remembers the good friends he made, like primary nurse Dawn Landery of Childrens Hospital's bone marrow unit.

``Dawn took care of me and would play Nintendo with me,'' Amador said. ``And I would beat her.''

In Alejandra's eyes, Amador is like a normal 7-year-old now.

``He's happier, has more energy, gets tired less easily,'' she said.

Amador gained almost 15 pounds this year, due to the medications he took that increase appetite. But the hours that he spends outside his apartment playing soccer should remedy that, his mother said.

The only complication Amador had was a rash due to the graft-vs.-host disease.

``If we're in the same place next year in terms of the leukemia not coming back, then things are really going our way,'' Weinberg said.

Last week, he gave Amador the green light to return to school in January, where he will enroll in the first grade.

``I think there's a chance that 1999 will be a lot easier year than 1998,'' Weinberg told the Navarros. ``Hopefully the hard part is behind us.''

Now that the battle is behind them, the Navarros want to encourage others to attend bone marrow drives so that children like Amador are given a second chance at life.

``We want to be an example to others to s`how that transplants are successful,'' Alejandra Navarro said. ``We want to be there (at the drive) so people can see that if the community collaborates that it can be done.''

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1) Transplant recipient Amador Navarro, 7, laughs with his mother, Alejandra, and Dr. Ken Weinberg during a checkup last week at Childrens Hospital.

(2) Amador Navarro prepares for his first transfusion in January.

(3--Ran in Bulldog Edition only) At Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Jose Navarro gives Amador a hug, as he and his wife, Alejandra wait for the doctor to arrive.

(4--Ran in Bulldog Edition only) Amador Navarro and his family leave Childrens Hospital Los Angeles after Amador's doctor visit.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News