Blood drive to save little Evan Wallace Dec. 29, 4:30 – 8 p.m. Are you a match?!

Jaimee Russnak, Staff Reporter
Three-year-old Evan Wallace, daughter of Jill and Jeff Wallace, was diagnosed with a very rare form of acute myeloid leukemia on Oct. 31 after entering the Stollery Children’s Hospital on Sept. 4.

The Canadian Blood Services have agreed to hold a blood drive in honour of Evan to be held Thursday, Dec. 29 from 4:30 – 8 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 30 from 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Camrose Field House on 4516 – 45 St.

Those interested in donating on either of these two days should call 1-888-2DONATE to book their appointment or book online at www.donatenow.blood. ca.

Filling these appointment spots will generate 167 blood donations.

Drop-in donations at any Canadian Blood Services Clinic is also an option.

Either way, the entire process only takes approximately an hour, including hemoglobin and iron testing, a confidential questionnaire to determine eligibility, blood pressure and temperature check, and the drawing of 45 mL of blood according to the Canadian Blood Services website.

On Nov. 28, Evan received her 18th blood transfusion of a necessary 100.

“People don’t realize the difference donating blood can make,” Jill Wallace states, adding that the Wallace family has truly begun to realize how important it is.

Evan is currently undergoing a 28 day period of induction.

This period includes three kinds of chemotherapy for the first 10 days.

Then the doctors wait for her blood cell count to drop and rise again before taking some tests and starting the process over, with a few days less of chemotherapy.

This will repeat until a bone marrow match is found.

None of Evan’s immediate family members were found to be a bone marrow match, and she is currently on the registry waiting for one to be found.

Wallace says that they are fortunate to have a large donor base to draw from as it is partially based on ethnicity, but that with the rate of matches found, the family hopes more people will register as possible donors. I

n particular, she says the most eligible to donate stem cells are males aged 17 to 35.

“It is so important for them to realize the need and register to donate. They are more eligible because they have fewer antibodies than women who have carried children during pregnancy,” she adds.

Anyone interested in seeing if they are a match should log on to www.blood.ca. There they may take a knowledge test to ensure they are informed about the process, and fill out an online health assessment and consent form.

Roughly 10 days later, they will receive a phone call confirming eligibility and finally a buccal swab kit will be mailed.

All it takes is a cheek swab and then mailing back the kit to be fully registered for free. According to Jill, the process of donating stem cells is much less invasive than it used to be; it takes roughly four hours, and can be done at the Cross Cancer Clinic in Edmonton.

“Those four hours can save a life,” she says.

While some individuals may be ineligible to donate blood or stem cells, there are other ways to help the family through Evan’s treatment and recovery.

They can choose to donate funds or organize fundraisers for the Kids for Cancer Society at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, which Wallace credits as a great help to families.

The society helps pay for hospital parking, gives comfort packages to families, helps watch and plan activities for patient’s siblings, and plan events such as holiday parties for the patients and their families.

There is a Facebook page set up under the name Little Evan’s updates, where Evan’s family lets the members, rising in numbers to almost 400, know how she is doing throughout treatment. F

acebook group members can post well wishes here as well.

On the page it can be seen how many community members have already registered as possible donors and continue to encourage those who haven’t yet to do so. According to Wallace, Evan’s diagnosis has shown her what living in a small, close-knit community is all about.

She says, “The support from family, friends, and the community has been amazing, and we can’t thank everyone enough. Evan has a strong support system behind her.”

Please Help!

See the Dec. 6/11 issue of The Community Press