IRVING, Texas — A doctor's job is to use every tool available to help you fight diseases like cancer.
Leukemia is a threatening blood cancer and disproportionately affects African Americans. As a donor, you can help doctors kick cancer to the curb, straight from your car, to keep more people of all races alive. There are millions of people who are already signed up to be potential donors. Volunteers are working to diversify the donor list so Black people, and other groups, always have a fighting chance against cancer.
Be The Match has made it so you ca cure cancer from the inside of your car. Recently, in Irving, Texas, a sign, drive-thru, and swab kits were all for 8-year-old Kobe Washington. His parents say his spirits are high even though his chances of surviving leukemia are low. All he needs is a blood stem cell or bone marrow transplant. The possibility of that happening is only 23%.
“It’s a baby up there and babies shouldn’t go through cancer. I don’t think anyone should go through cancer, but I mean babies shouldn’t be up there, they should be outside running around and playing,” said Lakrisha Cooper.
Seeing Kobe’s picture on one of those signs is the reason Lakrisha Cooper drove up to have her cheeks swabbed. African Americans only comprise 4% of the Be The Match registry As a Black woman, that statistic disappoints her and she wants to be and see that change.
“We suffer from cancer at a very high rate and there’s no one helping us,” Cooper added.
None of Kobe’s family members are matches. If Kobe, who wants to be an aerospace engineer someday, finds a match, it will be from a stranger.
“There is a hesitancy to get on the registry. Whether people are worried that we are going to be taking their DNA or that we’re going to be using it for any type of study that is just not the case,” said Tressa Malone, community engagement specialist for Be The Match.
Malone works to not only reel in more potential donors, but to educate people about the process.
Signing up to be a donor means you will first swab both of your checks for 10 seconds. That sample is taken to a lab to be processed, and if you’re a match for someone, a representative from Be The Match will be in touch on where you can go to donate.
“If you are called to donate, everything is covered - down to pet care if needed. So nothing comes out of your pocket, just a little bit of your time,” Malone explained.
Becoming a donor sometimes means you are signing up to give someone else a second chance at life.
“You’re not giving anything that will not be replenished in your body,” said Malone.
A second chance would mean everything to Kobe and other patients like him.