Patrick, 14, USA
Basic need(s):
Education, Health
Project:
Driving For Donors
Patrick was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 10 years old. While undergoing chemotherapy treatments in the hospital he saw a TV show about the need for bone marrow donors. This experience was the inspiration for his project, “Driving for Donors,” a national marrow donor drive to help save the lives of those in need of a transplant. Unfortunately, there is a critical shortage of donors on marrow registries around the world and thus, victims of Leukemia, Lymphoma and a myriad of other blood diseases are dying every day. To create awareness for this project, Patrick and his family traveled around the country holding marrow donor drives in over 30 different cities where he educated contributors and potential contributors about the importance of registering with the bone marrow registry. To raise funds for the tissue typing fees in order to sort out who is a match for whom, Patrick sold advertising space on his bald head, which also served as a living platform for him to spread his message. “Driving for Donors” has registered 20,000 donors in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry to date and has raised over $150,000 for more drives and all tissue typing fees. For his part, Patrick has reached over 100 million people through all sorts of media worldwide. More incredibly, “Driving For Donors” discovered 10 lifesaving marrow matches. As for Patrick? “Even though I am still undergoing chemotherapy, I feel very lucky that I am doing so well.” So does the entire world.
