Marrow Drive Draws Dozens Of Volunteers In Lincolnshire
(CBS) -- Students, teachers and families came together Saturday at a north suburban school to donate blood and register to be bone marrow donors.
It's all to honor three students with cancer.
Ester Lee's daughter Ava has a rare type of leukemia, which means after the 5-year-old completes chemo she'll likely need a bone marrow transplant.
She's Korean and Taiwanese, and only about 7 percent of registered marrow donors are Asian, making it difficult to find a match.
Lee is a fourth-grade teacher at Half Day School in Lincolnshire-Prairie View District 103, where two other children are also battling cancer.
Her colleague, reading specialist Pam Owens, helped organize a blood drive and marrow donor registration about a month ago.
Marrow Drive Draws Dozens Of Volunteers
She says after reaching out to the marrow donor group Be the Match, she sent an email to district 103 staff and had all the volunteers needed within minutes.
Lee says the event at Daniel Wright Jr High in Lincolnshire collected 50 units of blood and saw 30 people register to become bone marrow donors.
