DETROIT – Eleven-year-old Nicholas is battling a fungal infection and suffers from an incredibly rare genetic disorder. He just wants to be a "normal kid" and play outside with his friends.
Nine-year-old J'son has undergone 10 surgeries and receives monthly blood transfusions at the hospital. He's been fighting sickle cell anemia since he was born.
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Are you the one who can save their life? Are you the perfect match they've waited for all these years? For thousands of patients with blood cancers like leukemia or other diseases, a bone marrow transplant is their only hope for survival.
Only about 30 percent of patients find a bone marrow match in their own family. The rest must rely on registries such as Be The Match. But sadly, 30 percent of patients won't find a match in any of the registries either.
This Friday, September 19th, you can help change that. Local 4 is teaming up with Be The Match and Wolverines for Life to hold bone marrow drives in Detroit and Ann Arbor.
The Detroit drive will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside the Local 4 Studios at 550 West Lafayette Blvd. It's part of our Plaza Dayz event, so there will be live music and food trucks with $4 lunch deals too. The first 50 people to join the Be The Match registry will also receive a Live in the D apron.
The Ann Arbor drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. inside the Michigan Union in the Crofoot Room (on the first floor by the University Club). You can register as a bone marrow donor, make an appointment to donate blood, and register as an organ/eye/tissue donor.
If you can't make either drive, you can also join the Be The Match registry online by clicking here. Enter the promo code "channel4."
The process to join the bone marrow registry is completely painless and just requires you to rub a cotton swab on the inside of your cheek. If you are a match for someone and asked to donate, that process has much become much easier too. The majority of donations are now made using a process similar to donating blood, with no surgery required.
READ: Frequently Asked Questions about bone marrow donation.
To join the bone marrow registry, you need to be between the ages 18 and 44 and in good health. The age restriction is in place because younger donors offer patients the best chance for a successful transplant.
If you can't join, but would still like to help, you can still make a financial donation to offset the cost of adding new people to the registry.
Patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. Donors of these backgrounds are especially needed: Black or African-American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino and anyone of mixed heritage.
To read more about patients searching for a match, click here.