A local organization wants to help a 16-year-old Chatham boy in desperate need of a Bone Marrow transplant.
Melba Bedard said that the people running the Katelyn Bedard Bone Marrow Association don't know Ethan Hunter or his family, but after seeing his story on the news an event to help him was quickly put together.
"We don't know a great deal, only that he needs to find a donor and have a transplant as soon as possible," Bedard said. "This is what we do."
It turns out, Hunter has a rare form of cancer, lymphoblastic lymphoma T-Cell leukemia, which he was in remission for until recently. Now his only hope is a bone marrow transplant.
The story hit home with Melba, who lost her granddaughter Katelyn to leukemia 19 years ago.
"Our family knows what the Hunter family is going through right now. It is the worst feeling in the world," she shared. "We lost Katelyn because there were not enough people [on the worldwide donor registry] at that time."
Since then, the organization, partnered with Canadian Blood Services, has held numerous events to register people to the donor list. "We've registered almost 10,000 people at our swab events," Bedard stated.
On Saturday, July 27 people between the ages of 17-35 are urged to head to the Healthplex Centre at St. Clair College in Chatham to get swabbed and see if they're a match for Hunter.
The event goes from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and it takes very little time.
There is a quick eligibility questionnaire that anyone can go through in advance to see if they are eligible to donate and to register. The actual swabbing will take place on Saturday with volunteers that will walk you through the process.
"Eight minutes, ten minutes max," Bedard said. "It's an easy process and we explain to the registrants what happens if they are called to be a donor."
She explained that this is a registration process, it doesn't guarantee that a person will be called to become a donor.
"Hopefully at some point you might be a match with someone who's desperately looking," she said.
Find out more about the organization and bone marrow and stem cell donation here.