Donor match sought for young cancer patient
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on May 15, 2016 1:45 AM
Full SizeLast August, 14-year-old Will Gibson was diagnosed with cancer. Now, the Wayne County community is being called upon to help him fight it.
Wayne Christian School, which Will attends, will hold a swabbing event in the school cafeteria Tuesday to search for potential bone marrow donors in the event that Will requires a transplant. Anyone ages 18-44 can participate, which will involve simply filling out a registration form and swabbing the inside of one's cheek to collect a DNA sample.
Will's mother, Gina Gibson, said that Will's first diagnosis came after he developed cold-like symptoms late last year. These symptoms evolved into lower back pain, and then into chest pain and coughing. Mrs. Gibson, who is a nurse, asked the doctors at Wayne Memorial Hospital to take a look at his chest. When they did, they found that Will was suffering from anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer which attacks the lymph nodes.
From there, the family went to Vidant Medical Center, where Will underwent six rounds of intense chemotherapy. Mrs. Gibson said that they nearly lost him more than once during that time.
"There were complications in nearly every round of chemo. He would have seizures, and sometimes I'd be the only one in the room."
"Seeing that in your own child is different from seeing it in a patient."
By January, Will's cancer went into remission. An avid athlete, he began to practice for the baseball team at Wayne Christian. Then, in February, he came home complaining of pain in his lower body. After the pain persisted, Mrs. Gibson checked the area and found that the lymph nodes were enlarged again. Doctors soon confirmed that Will's cancer had come back.
Bone marrow transplants are often the most successful ways to cure lymphoma, but finding a donor is difficult. The odds that two random people are suitable match is around one in 20,000, so the success of the program relies heavily on a large volume of volunteers. Cova Gardner, with Wayne Christian, said she hopes to have around 200 people attend the event on Tuesday.
Mrs. Gibson said that, even with numerous other options for treatment ahead of Will, the things which have truly carried him through his experiences have been friends and faith. Will's classmates routinely meet outside of the school to hold hands and pray for Will's health.
"We would not be able to get through all of this without the wonderful people at Wayne Christian," Mrs. Gibson said. "Will's classmates are more like siblings, and whenever I've called saying that we need prayers, this place just shuts down for us."
To be a part of the swab event, you need only to show up at the Wayne Christian School cafeteria at 1201 Patetown Road from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday to sign the registration form. Even if you are not a match for Will, your DNA will be entered into the National Registry of Bone Marrow Donors, where you could potentially be matched with someone else in need of a bone marrow transplant. Only about 30 percent of people can find a suitable donor from among their own family members, so it is very important to the remaining patients that unrelated donors volunteer their own bone marrow.
The volunteers from Wayne Christian will stay late if necessary, so if you arrive and there are still people there, you will be able to donate. If you cannot attend the event in person but would still like to help, visit www.join.bethematch.org/Will to join the registry on your own.