Middle Village, NY –
The tree was up and decorated and, while their parents wrapped gifts, Colin Flood and his younger brother Brody talked excitedly about Santa’s arrival. It was the ordinary preparations for the Christmas holidays and so when Colin began to feel sick his parents chalked it up to a bad seasonal flu.
But on December 23, the night before Christmas Eve, Colin was told that the fevers, night sweats, aches and pains he’d been experiencing over the last 13 days were anything but ordinary; they were the symptoms of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL).
Colin, who is a first grader at Our Lady of Hope Catholic School and player in his peewee basketball league, spent Christmas receiving his first round of chemotherapy in the hospital under the lights of a miniature tree on his window sill.
His mother Jennifer has lived every parent's nightmare, watching her normally active 6 year-old have his life sidelined by this disease as he undergoes aggressive rounds of chemotherapy, forcing him to remain in the hospital at all times. Now his doctors say that his only chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, his brother is not a match and now his life depends on a stranger.
Colin’s father Kevin Flood, a retired NYC firefighter from Engine 210 who risked his life aiding in the search and rescue efforts after 9/11, has seen tragedy and the way it can unite a community. Now he is calling out to the city he fought to protect, to unite once again and help him save the life of his child.
“The hardest thing as a parent is knowing there is nothing I can do to help save my son,” says Kevin, “so please, get swabbed and give Colin a fighting chance.”
REGISTER AS A BONE MARROW DONOR
Sat., Feb. 18, 2012
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Our Lady of Hope Catholic School
Middle Village, NY
Registering to become a bone marrow donor is more than a cheek swab; it is a commitment to help save a life. You must be between 18 and 55 and in good general health. When you register with DKMS, you can be found as a donor match for any patient in need of a bone marrow transplant.
Registering one potential bone marrow donor costs DKMS $65. Because DKMS does not require new donors to pay the registration fee and does not receive government funding, DKMS must rely on donations from the general public to fund donor registrations. One hundred percent of your financial contribution is used to register new potential donors. Every dollar counts!
About DKMS
The DKMS mission is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors for leukemia patients. More than 27,000 DKMS donors have helped save lives by donating their bone marrow. DKMS is the largest bone marrow donor center in the world with over 2.9 million registered donors. DKMS Americas is a 501 (c)(3)non profit organization.
For more information about DKMS and to learn more about registering as a bone marrow donor, please visit www.getswabbed.org.
