Bone Marrow Drive Scheduled for Local Athlete Battling Leukemia

A bone marrow registry drive is scheduled this Sunday, Oct. 2 to help out Ryan Teixeira, a 2015 Arroyo Grande High School graduate who was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

A star athlete for the Eagles in both baseball and football, Teixeira battled cancer while in high school. During his senior year, he was diagnosed with Stage 1 Ewing Sarcoma and underwent several rounds of chemotherapy. The 2015 Pac-8 most valuable player in baseball later moved on to Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, which had awarded him a scholarship in late 2014.

But just eight months after his last chemotherapy session, he was diagnosed with AML. Now, Teixeira is at UCLA Medical Center awaiting a bone marrow transplant. In an effort to find a match, family and friends are hosting a bone marrow transplant drive.

The five-hour event will be held in the multi-purpose room on the campus of Arroyo Grande High School from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Potential bone marrow donors need to be between the ages of 18-44.

Those who take part in the drive will go through a quick, painless process that should last about 10 minutes. A swab on the inside of the cheek will be administered and sent away to be analyzed.

“No needles involved. It’s just literally just sign a piece of paper. You go and get a kit, it’s like a Q-Tip. They’ll insert it into your mouth and it’s a quick cheek swap and you hand it back to them and they send out their kits and you see if you are a match for either Ryan or somebody else across the nation.’

For those who are interested, they can register online at Join.bethematch.org/17strong

For more information, you can contact Vivian Abernathy (626) 283-9182 or vabernathy@coh.org.