Terrell Wilson, 21 from Orlando, FL sadley passed away on Christmas Morning 2009 from Leukemia. This big Orlando Majic fan received calls, visits, and gifts from Orlando Majic current and former players on his birthday while in the hospital in July. Unfortunately, he was not able to receive a life saving transplant because he did not have a match.
Eunique M. Darby, 15, of Syracuse NY passed away November 2008. After battling Leukemia for years she finally found a match but her transplant was canceled due to complications with the donor. Another match was found 4 months later but sadly she passed away a few months after transplant.
Edward Swain, 19 died two days before Eunique in the same hospital. Both teens had been waiting for a match and together helped raise awareness in the Syracuse area for the need to register African Americans. Edward also finally found a match, but sadly it was too late for him as well. Although a transplant is never a guaranteed cure, the longer a patient is on the waiting list the lower the chance of survival once they receive the transplant. That’s why its imperative to have matches for everyone before hand
LaMonica Molette was 21yrs old and diagnosed with Leukemia (AML). Her Brother was a match but was murdered the day before her transplant. She had no match on the marrow registry and passed away. Her dying wish was to keep drives going for other people to possibly find matches that her church has held annually since. Watch her touching video here…
Pastor Royal preacher of a Dallas, Texas Baptist Church fought a long hard battle against Leukemia. I (Akiim DeShay) first became involved with the movement at a drive for Pastor Royal. A year later he was still searching for a donor. There was another drive scheduled in his name, but unfortunately he passed away days before the drive and after two years of searching for a match.