CHESAPEAKE, Va. — I'm following up with a Chesapeake mom whose son has a rare form of leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant.
We met Cayden and his mom in January just before a match was found for Cayden. They thought their prayers had been answered.
“Unfortunately, the doctor said that the donor is no longer on the registry,” said Cayden's mom, Courtney Addison. "He doesn’t know what happened or why they withdrew."
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After 7 y.o. Chesapeake boy loses bone marrow donor, 100+ attend donation event
Meanwhile, daily chemotherapy keeps the cancer at bay, and several other medications that he injects directly into the port in his stomach help with side effects.
“Over half his life has been spent getting chemotherapy, so I’m hoping that won’t be the case,” said Addison. "I’m hoping that we can get this resolved sooner than later."
“No child’s life should be cut short because they can’t find a donor,” said Addison.
According to the National Institutes of Health, it's harder to find a match for African American patients because Black donors are underrepresented in the registry.
"It's really important that we get more people of color in general on the registry because that’s going to increase the likelihood of finding someone who can match with him,” Addison told me.
I wanted to see for myself how the test works. I ordered a swab kit online. You’ll get it in three to seven days, open the kit, swab both cheeks, attach swabs to the form and then put it in the envelope. Then, just drop it in the mail.
The registry will call you if you are a match.
Watch previous coverage: After 7 y.o. Chesapeake boy loses promised bone marrow donor, 100+ attend donation event
Kate McDermott of NMDP told me if you are a match, most donations only take a few hours.
“Ninety percent of the time, it’s called a peripheral blood stem cell donation and it looks similar to a plasma donation,” said McDermott.
Or, you could be asked to give bone marrow, which is more involved and done under general anesthesia.
Either way, your donation could save a young boy’s life.
“This is not a matter of donating for a kids toy," said Addison. "This is life. This is his life, and my son deserves a life. He deserves a long life."
We’ll continue to follow Cayden’s journey and will update you when he finds a match.
https://my.nmdp.org/CaydenCFC [my.nmdp.org]
