Driving For Donors

Meet Pat, a 13 year old boy who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in March 2006. Pat is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments at St. Josephs Children's Hospital in Tampa, Florida and will continue those treatments until July 2009.

Driving for Donors was born when Pat heard about the shortage of marrow donors for patients with leukemia when a friend of his died because she couldn't find a match. This made Pat so sad and he wanted to do something to help!

Driving for Donors began in 2007 as a family project where Pat and his parents traveled nationwide in a special “Donormobile,” to recruit potential life-saving marrow donors. This idea turned into a sensational movement and Pat was able to register over 6,500 donors and raise over $100,000. What brought so much success to fundraising is that he had lost his hair from chemotherapy but used his entrepreneur skills to sell advertising space on his bald head!

Driving for Donors generated so much international interest that Driving for Donors 2008 has been planned. This year, DKMS is working with Pat and his mother, Claudine, to continue the fight against leukemia and other blood cancers by recruiting the much needed marrow donors. Our goal is to register 8,000 donors and save many lives. This will only be possible if everyone embraces this cause and supports the efforts of this courageous young boy.

To learn more about Driving for Donors, please visit Driving for Donors.