Arroyo Grande rallies around teen fighting cancer

For friends like Jordan Herrigan, signing up to be a part of the bone marrow registry is more than personal. He calls Ryan Teixeira more like a brother than a best friend, and was overwhelmed by the support he saw at Sundays bone marrow donor registration event.

“There’s no doubt in my mind Ryan’s going to beat this, he beat it the first time, hes going to beat it a second time, especially with all the support I know he has,” says Herrigan. “I’m not surprised one bit that theres this many people here to support him.”

Last year the former Arroyo Grande baseball star was diagnosed with Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. He beat the disease, only for it return 8 months later, this time in the form of leukemia.

“I don’t want to get emotional, but the support has been amazing,” says Teixeira’s father Steven.

His son will need a bone marrow transplant, and the sooner the better.

So the Arroyo Grande community put together the donor registration, all in hopes of seeing Ryan, who is stuck at a hospital at UCLA, make it home healthy.

“As his parents, you know this hurts,” says his father. “Anybody who has had to go through this once, let alone twice, it takes a lot out of you, but the community has rallied around us.

Friend Julian Ramirez says seeing all the support from his entire town is helping Ryan stay positive, and that positivity has in turn inspired him.

“You can get through anything if Ryan can get through anything,” says Ramirez. “That’s how I look at it.”

Every three minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer like Teixeira’s, and many have to look outside their families for a match.

“This is all about helping others,” says his father.

For more information on how to register yourself as a donor, visit www.bethematch.org