Boy’s Birthday Wish: Bone Marrow
John Sanchez is a budding chef who attends the California Culinary Academy, makes a mean salsa, and wants more than anything to spend his 21st birthday as a Children’s Hospital patient.
John’s mom, Becca, describes him as a “big sweet kid,” who is such a talent in the kitchen that the academy’s master chefs fight for turns tasting his cooking. John’s birthday is Feb. 25 and right not is looks as if he may not get his wish.
To make his wish come true, John needs bone marrow.
John is fighting a second bout with acute myeloid leukemia. He spent the Christmas holidays undergoing another nasty round of intense chemotherapy. His mother wears a “Got Marrow?” T-shirt.
Determined to keep up his activities, John just started back to school. But to achieve a solid cure, he needs a donated and perfectly matched bone marrow transplant. Ideally the transplant and related treatment would take place at Oakland’s Childen’s Hospital, where John knows their top-rated doctors well.
But John can’t go there after he turns 21, and he needs the bone marrow match to be hospitalized.
“Exact bone marrow matches from unrelated individuals are hard to come by,” Becca explains. “For example, if 1,000 people are tested, there might be 33 possible matches, and from that just one or two exact matches. So obviously the more people who come in for the initial screening, the better.”
The donor procedure is simple: If you agree to this initial test, you agree to join the National Marrow Donor Program. You receive a quick finger prick to test your blood. Your blood type goes into a national computer system that looks for a match with John as well as other patients who need life-saving bone marrow transplants. The final transplant process (schedule later) only takes four hours.
John and his family invite you to Berkeley’s Alta Bates hospital to become a member of NMDP in his honor on Feb. 18 from 3–7 PM. You must be between 18–59 and in good health. There is a $65 charge for Caucasians and no charge for ethnic minorities (Latino, Asian, African and Pacficic Islander) because these groups are underrepresented as donors. Contact Becca if you would like to donate and cannot afford the $65 fee. And if you want to help but cannot join NMDP, consider a donation of $65 to cover fees for other potential donors.
Let’s make sure that John realizes his dream to become a master chef. For more information, contact Becca Sanchez, becca58@pacbell.net or (510) 524-8824; or John, www.creativedifferences.com/john .
RESOURCES:
www.machleukemia.homestead.comwww.marrow.org