One of the most important days in the fight to save little Joshua Weekes’ life is just around the corner — and friends and colleagues of his family are urging everyone to do what they can to help.
On Tuesday, April 5, a bone marrow drive is being held in a desperate bid to find a donor for the six-year-old, Grade 1, DeBeck elementary student, who returned home from a family vacation to the Philippines in February, only to be diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia.
Since his diagnosis, Joshua’s parents, Lia and Dagan, have been by his bedside at BC Children’s Hospital, where last Tuesday he began his second round of chemotherapy.
However, given Joshua’s mixed ethnicity — Filipino, British, Icelandic and Caribbean — the people pulling for him are pleading for as many 17 to 35-year-olds as possible to come out on Tuesday to register with the Canadian Blood Services.
“This is an amazing opportunity to not just save Joshua’s life, but many people’s lives,” said one of Lia’s Richmond Hospital colleagues, Brenda Goosen.
“Joshua has just started his second round of chemotherapy and he needs all of our help.
“Individuals with mixed ethnicity (similar to Joshua’s) are strongly encouraged to get along to the bone marrow drive, but it’s not totally necessary that you have the same ethnicities.
“There’s always a chance that you could be able to help Joshua or other people that need help (from Canadian Blood Services). The registry just needs people in general, as well, to come forward.”
The bone marrow drive, hosted by the family’s friends and colleagues and administered by Canadian Blood Services, is being held at the St. Joseph the Worker Parish on 4451 Williams Rd. from 12:30 to 7:30 p.m. to try and uncover a matching donor for Joshua.
All registration involves is giving your details and taking a mouth swab.
“We have a unique opportunity in Richmond to get the word out and that’s what we will be doing the rest of this week and all weekend,” added Goossen, who will be part of a team putting up posters around the city this week to advertise the event.
“It’s important to stress the urgency; I don’t think I can stress that enough in Joshua’s case.”
Before embarking on his second round of chemo this week, Joshua’s blood count had risen enough for his parents to take him home for six precious days of respite.
“We were able to spend a glorious six days at home before coming back to the hospital yesterday for Joshua’s next round of chemo,” Lia told the News via email on Wednesday.
“We should be here at the hospital for another month before we get another break at home. (We’re) already counting down the days until our next trip home.
“Joshua continues to smile and show us what an amazing little warrior we have among us.”
Next Tuesday, donors will be walked through five stations and the whole process will be explained in-depth.
If you can’t make the bone marrow drive in person, you can also register online through OneMatch (blood.ca/en/stem-cell/register-onematch), and the cheek swab package will be mailed to you.
Also, check the full page advert on page 12 of today's Richmond News for details of the event on how to register.
