Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Registration in Honor of Four Year Old Leukemia Patient
On Saturday, May 5, from 8:00am to 12:30pm the American Red Cross of Union County will hold a blood drive and bone marrow registration at Wesley Chapel Elementary School in honor of Julia Nesbitt, who two and a half years ago was diagnosed with T-cell, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.
Julia was born on May 31, 2002, “pink, screaming and perfect in everyway,” states her mom, Kathy Nesbitt. For the next couple of years Julia grew into a healthy, happy child, until the evening of October 24, 2004 when she was first diagnosed.
“I unzipped her PJs to change her and found her covered from shoulders to toes in bruises. It was as if someone took a baseball bat to her legs,” explains Kathy. “She rubbed her eye and I watched it swell in front of me. I immediately took her to the hospital where the ER doctors told us her blood work led them to believe she had leukemia. She is our hero, and withstood more pain and suffering through those early days of treatment with courage I have only seen, sadly enough, repeated in the spirit of the other children we have met along the way at the Chemotherapy Clinics and hospital visits.”
Many children across the country and in the community are in Julia’s similar situation, and by coming out to the blood drive and bone marrow registry you will be able to provide them with the help they need and deserve. The National Marrow Donor Program maintains a national database of potential bone marrow donors. The process is very simple, you answer a few questions, someone swabs your cheek, and that’s it. You will then be entered into the national database where the opportunity could arise for you to save someone’s life. The drive will be at Wesley
Chapel Elementary School, located at 110 Potter Road, on the corner of Weddington Road (Rte 84) and Potters Road.
