A little girl from Lamont is in Children's Hospital in Madera waiting for a lifesaving donor.
Adelene Martinez is just 18 months old and has been diagnosed with a very rare form of leukemia. She needs a successful bone marrow transplant. 'Be the Match' will be in town this weekend. It's a group that puts people willing to donate bone marrow on a national registry. They hope to find the one person that is a perfect match and lifesaver for Adelene.
Abigail Martinez wishes she could take the pain away. Her young daughter, Adelene, fell about four months ago. Instead of treating a simple bump on the head, Adelene was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
"If it was up to me, I would give my life to see her healthy," said Abigail about her daughter.
Adelene is being treated at Children's Hospital in Madera. Her little body is undergoing harsh chemo treatments while she waits for a bone marrow donor.
"It's like searching for a needle in a haystack in many situations," said Carola Enriquez, Director of Community Development at Houchin Blood Bank.
Adelene's family contacted Enriquez and she turned to 'Be the Match.'
Their website shows the lives donors have saved. The National Marrow Donor program says over 10,000 people every year are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases that require a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant.
Now, 'Be the Match' hopes to find Adelene a donor in her Lamont community.
"Ethnic background is key, and people that are multi-racial can have a very hard time finding a match," said Enriquez. "By going to her actual neighborhood where her friends and family live, you know, it's more likely to find a match."
A phlebotomist at Houchin says to get added to the list, it takes four swabs of your mouth with long cotton swabs. They are sent to 'Be the Match.' About one in 540 members will actually do on to be donors. But, you could be that one keeping smiles like Adelene's beaming for a long and healthy life.
"I want to see her grow together with my other children and see her healthy," said Abigail of her daughter.
If you would like to help and be added to the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry, show up at Saint Augustine Church on Myrtle Avenue in Lamont on Sunday, July 22nd anytime from 9:00 a.m. to noon. You have to be healthy and between the ages of 18 and 60. The tests are free to anyone who shows up, but you can leave a donation to 'Be the Match.'
Visit: www.BeTheMatch.org for more information.
