Boy on way to beating leukemia thanks to

IT STARTED with a routine tonsillectomy.

Jonathan Varghese, 11, suffered from asthma and sleep apnea, so his doctors recommended the procedure to remove his adenoids and tonsils two years ago.

In the weeks before his August 2015 surgery, Jonathan felt some swelling in his throat. Nodes became visible on the side of his neck, lower than his throat, his mother told the Daily News.

“We got him checked out. Everyone said it was probably something viral,” mom Nisse Varghese recalled.

“He wasn’t showing any other symptoms — no bruising or exhaustion or pain in his limbs and joints,” she said. “We went on a four-day cruise and spent a week in Vegas. This kid was active and had the best time.”

But the doctor performing the tonsillectomy had a hunch something was wrong and sent his tissue for screening. The family soon learned Jonathan had T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or ALL.

“They said it was very, very early but also very aggressive,” Varghese recalled. “It was surreal. It was like we’d been living in a bubble, and it just popped. We were sobbing.”

The family from Highland Mills, in Orange County, considered treatment at a local hospital. The staff was pressuring them to sign up with a trial and start immediately, she said.

But a close family friend, an oncologist in Boston, suggested they meet Dr. Peter Steinherz at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Varghese had a friend drive her to Manhattan, while her husband stayed with Jonathan.

“I hadn’t slept in days,” she said. “They gave us the tour and there was just something about this hospital. It reminded me of a beehive where everyone is swarming around, but working for the goal of the community.” She said Steinherz didn’t pressure her. “He said, ‘If you come, we’re ready. If you don’t, still reach out and let us know if we can help you. Do what you feel is right. This is your child. The other hospital is closer.’ That was huge,” she said.

During the ride back from the hospital at E. 67th St. and York Ave. in Lenox Hill, Varghese’s husband asked for a report.

“It’s not a country club. Jonathan would have to share a room, but this is where our child needs to be,” she recalled telling him.

Jonathan was admitted the next week and quickly started a comprehensive, two-year chemotherapy treatment developed at Sloan Kettering.

Called the New York-II protocol, the intensive, multi-agent chemotherapy has a 90% success rate when administered at the hospital, Steinherz said.

It’s one example why Sloan Kettering has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a best hospital 28 years in a row.

“Memorial concentrates on treating cancers, and everybody here is focused on defeating cancer. We have the most experience with tailoring treatment and the best results,” Steinherz said. “The more you do, the better you get.”

Overall, the 473-bed cancer facility admitted 23,078 patients in 2016.

Its doctors performed 23,066 surgeries, the hospital said, and its 2,864 registered nurses provided round-the-clock care.

“Cancer treatment is never a pure recipe you follow from A to Z. The expertise of the person following the recipe makes a big difference,” Steinherz said.

Connecticut mom Melissa Thompson, 34, agrees. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in September 2015, just two months after giving birth to her daughter Poppy.

She opted for a double mastectomy and underwent eight months of chemotherapy.

“I knew I needed to be at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I had a newborn baby. That increased the gravity of the situation. I came to MSK for world-class treatment, and what I experienced was world-class care,” she said.

“It’s another home for me. They look out for my physical and my psychological well-being,” she explained. “They have all these ancillary services.

“They even help you enroll in financial aid.”

When Thompson got infections during chemo and a fever spiked, her doctor called her “every single day,” she said.

“Chemo is never a cake walk,” Steinherz said. “There are lots of bumps in the road. What’s very important is being able to bail out the patient when they run into trouble.”

As expected, the powerful drugs given to young Jonathan made him very sick at first, his mom said.

After a few months, he was so weak, he lost the ability to jump.

“I didn’t know he couldn’t do it until they asked him to jump and he couldn’t. He’s was so sick, we didn’t notice.