What began as leg pain after a family trip quickly turned into a life-altering diagnosis for blood cancer longtime educator and healthcare professional Eli Hallak, and ultimately became a powerful reminder of what community truly looks like.

Hallak says the first warning signs of cancer appeared in May, shortly after visiting his youngest daughter at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“I just didn’t feel right,” Hallak said. “I’m one of those people who’s never really sick, never hospitalized. But I knew something was off.”

After battling pneumonia for weeks, Hallak noticed severe pain and swelling in his leg around the end of May. By early June, he woke up unable to walk.

“My left calf was as big as my thigh,” he said. “I teach sports medicine, so I knew right away, I thought, ‘I have a DVT.’ And that made no sense.”

Doctors at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center confirmed deep vein thrombosis and initially believed medication would resolve it. 

Instead, the situation escalated quickly. By Father’s Day weekend, Hallak returned to the emergency room at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center, where doctors discovered 14 blood clots in both his legs and arms.

Eli Hallak in the hospital (Eli Hallak)

“That’s when everyone got very, very concerned,” Hallak said. “If a clot moves the wrong way, that’s it.”

After extensive testing, doctors identified the cause: Essential Thrombocythemia, a rare blood cancer linked to a JAK2 genetic mutation. Complicating matters further, Hallak also developed an ultra-rare condition called a cytokine storm, which triggered severe inflammation and continued clotting.

“My body just makes platelets like confetti,” he said. “It just keeps going and going.”

This past summer was grueling for Hallak. 

He lost more than 60 pounds, struggled to walk around his culdesac, and spent weeks largely confined to the couch. At one point, his oncologist instructed him not to move at all.

“He told me if I fell, I could bleed out before help arrived,” Hallak said. “That’s not something you ever expect to hear.”

Throughout the ordeal, Hallak credits Dr. Karlton Wong and the team at the Providence Roy for refusing to give up – even fighting insurance companies to secure specialized medications.

“He kept telling me, ‘You’re going to have a long, healthy life. We just have to get you there,’” Hallak said. “That meant everything.”

Now recovering and back to roughly 75 percent of his former strength, Hallak has returned to campus at St. Francis High School in La Cañada, where he has spent 28 years as director of health services, head athletic trainer, and sports medicine teacher.

Keeping the cheer throughout the fight

But one of the most emotional moments of his journey had nothing to do with medicine.

For years, Hallak’s Santa Clarita home has been known for its elaborate Christmas light display – roughly 68,000 lights, towering teddy bears, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer characters, a working mini train, and a snow-blowing snowman, all synchronized to music.

Eli Hallak’s home decorated for Christmas (Eli Hallak)

“It’s always been therapeutic for me,” Hallak said. “Seeing the joy on people’s faces, especially kids, that’s healing.”

But this year, doctors made one thing clear… no ladders.

“I was told flat out, if you fall, you die,” Hallak said.

At first, Hallak and his family believed the display would have to be canceled. 

That changed when help began arriving, first from a professional light installation company, Bee Merry Christmas Light Installers, handled the roofline. 

But the real tear jerker was the help from his students.  

Eli Hallak’s students putting together his Christmas light display in SCV (Eli Hallak)

“One of my students just looked at me and said, ‘Mr. Hallak, I’ll come help you,’” he said, tearing up. “They didn’t have to do that. They chose to.”

About 10 St. Francis High School students volunteered two days, hauling decorations, building the train track, setting up displays, and transforming the yard – all while taking direction from their teacher sitting nearby.

“It was emotional,” Hallak said. “People give teenagers a hard time, but this proved to me how much good there really is in them.”

For Hallak, who has spent decades caring for students, the moment was deeply personal.

“My job is to take care of them,” he said. “To have the roles reversed… to have them take care of me… that hit hard.”

Seeing the lights turn on for the first time, knowing his students had stepped up when he needed help most, meant everything to him.

“I can’t thank them enough,” Hallak said. “They didn’t just help put up lights. They helped pull me through one of the hardest moments of my life.”

With the Christmas decorations saved, the Hallaks decided to dedicate it to a larger purpose this year.

Eli Hallak’s students putting together his Christmas light display in SCV (Eli Hallak)

Hallak created a fundraiser for cancer research. All donations collected at the home this season – accessible through a QR code out front – go directly to cancer research at the Providence Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center. 

The funds will support research selected by Dr. Wong, addressing a wide range of cancers, not just Hallak’s own.

“We figured even a dollar can make a difference,” Hallak said.

In just two weeks, the effort has already raised more than $7,000, surpassing the family’s original goal.

“Now we’re shooting for ten,” he said with a laugh.

The Hallaks are welcoming visitors throughout the holiday season to enjoy their Christmas display, hoping it brings the same smiles to others that Eli’s students brought to him.

“They didn’t just help decorate a house,” Hallak said. “They gave me hope. They truly saved Christmas.”

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