Delete Blood Cancer Searches Coast to Coast in Honor of ‘Mayor Kline’
Bone Marrow Drive to be Held Saturday, June 11
BEECH CREEK – Justin Kline has spent his life giving back to the community. From coaching the local little league and high school baseball teams to acting as the “Mayor of Beech Creek” for the last few years, Justin has made public service his life’s mission. However, after a week of feeling ill in June 2015, Justin was rushed to Geisinger Medical Center where it was discovered that his spleen had ruptured. The seemingly mysterious cause of this rupturing: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).
Justin’s spleen was quickly stabilized, but he also immediately began a grueling chemotherapy regimen. In April of this year, Justin’s mother donated her bone marrow to give her son a second chance at life. Justin was lucky to have found a donor within his family, but the majority of patients with blood cancers are not so fortunate.
“There is a 30% chance to find a donor match from a family member, and of the ones needing unrelated donors, 6 out of 10 patients never receive the unrelated transplant they need,” states Rachel Clark, a Donor Recruitment coordinator for Delete Blood Cancer.
Justin Kline’s story has inspired one man, Frank Watson, to cycle across the U.S. in order to raise awareness and help others like Justin. While Frank cycles from coast to coast, the local community will also be hosting a drive in order to help more people like Justin.
The donor drive will be held at Beech Creek Wesleyan Church 217 Main Street in Beech Creek, PA Roanoke, VA on Saturday, June 6th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Registration consists of swabbing the inside of the mouth and completing a registration form. Anyone in good health between the ages of 18 to 55 is eligible. Those unable to attend the drive can register as a donor and/or make a gift online at HYPERLINK “http://www.deletebloodcancer.org” DeleteBloodCancer.org.
About Delete Blood Cancer DKMS
Delete Blood Cancer DKMS is part of the world’s largest network of donor centers. Our mission is to build the number of suitable bone marrow and stem cell donors, because we believe that no life should be lost due to an inability to find a donor match. We have registered more than 6 million potential donors and facilitated more than 55,000 transplants around the world. But we’re not stopping there. We lead the fight against blood cancer by working with families, communities and organizations to recruit donors and provide more patients with second chances at life.
For more information or to register as a bone marrow donor, please visit DeleteBloodCancer.org.
Contact: Rachel Clark, 917.716.3407, rachel@deletebloodcancer.org
