Here's Baby Will's story ...
Will is a beautiful, happy 18-month-old boy. But he needs our help desperately. For 17 of his 18 months, he has been on chemotherapy, battling a rare genetic blood disorder referred to as FEL.
Will needs a bone marrow transplant in order to have a chance to survive. He has been through the National Marrow Donor Registry's 2,500,000 names, without finding a suitable marrow match. And, the longer he is on chemotherapy medication the more susceptible he becomes to developing a condition known as secondary leukemia, an untreatable disease. So, you can see the urgency of this appeal.
Perhaps one of you responding to this drive will provide the perfect bone marrow match for Baby Will, and offer him the gift of "tomorrow".
Should you not be the match for Baby Will, you can still remain on the Marrow Registry until you are 61 years of age and offer someone else a chance for life.
The Union Pacific Railroad is just one of many local corporations, firms, churches and individuals who will be participating in 1997 in bone marrow registry drives to help Baby Will and anyone else in need of marrow.
This year the National Marrow Donor unit at Cook Children's Medical Center expects to harvest marrow from about 40 individuals for local and worldwide distribution and to perform marrow transplants, locally, on 50 children, teenagers and adults.
To conduct this marrow drive, a team from Cook Children's Medical Center will be at Union Pacific Railroad on May 15, from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM, in the Storeroom Building, 2nd Floor Conference Room, to take blood samples. The samples are small, only about 6-6 tablespoons. Those participating should be in good general health and between 18-61 years of age.
You can make a difference!
For further information, contact LaDon Haslam, 878-4555.
LaDon is an administrative aide at the Crest Building in Fort Worth. 4-97