The parents of a 10-year-old Evanston boy will hold an event Monday at Ryan Field to help find a bone marrow match for him.
Julian Sims, a fifth grader at Dewey Elementary School, was diagnosed with leukemia about a month ago, according to the family’s page on the website for Be The Match, an organization that operates the world’s largest bone marrow registry. Sims’ family is seeking a bone marrow transplant for the child after his first round of chemotherapy was unsuccessful.
“Like the vast majority of families who need a life-saving bone marrow transplant, our marrow does not match Julian’s,” Sims’ family said on its page.
The family plans to hold several live marrow registry drives to encourage people to add themselves to the bone marrow registry and find out if they are a match. The process involves taking mouth swabs to test potential donors. To offset the cost of adding people to the registry, the family is also asking for monetary donations on their Be The Match page. According to its page, the family has reached almost $4,800 of their $20,000 goal so far.
Danielle Vickers, a marrow account manager who has been working with the Sims family, said potential donors can also donate blood at the live drive Monday.
“Many patients who need a marrow donor also receive multiple blood transfusions throughout the course of their treatment,” Vickers said in an email to The Daily.
The registry drive takes place 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday on the seventh floor of Ryan Field.
— Jeanne Kuang
