CHICAGO — Five-year-old Lucas Cervone, better known as "Bear," is battling leukemia for the second time. This time, he needs help from his neighbors.
The Belmont Cragin boy was first diagnosed with a form of leukemia in 2012, his father, Anthony Cervone, said. Lucas underwent chemotherapy, taking his last pill on June 21, 2015.
Just weeks later, Lucas started to bruise, Anthony said. He'd had a chronic cough, but now the way it sounded changed.
Anthony and his wife, Rina, exchanged emails with doctors. They had an appointment for Lucas scheduled on July 21. They were just trying to make it to that appointment, Anthony said.
But, Lucas was having a hard time breathing while getting ready for day care on July 20. Anthony and Rina took him to the emergency room. A few hours later, a doctor told them Lucas once again had a form of leukemia, Anthony said.
It wasn't a relapse but a different form of leukemia, Anthony said, and while Lucas undergoes another round of chemotherapy, his parents are "discussing [a] stem cell transplant" for their son's treatment. Anthony said he and Rina are not close enough matches to Lucas to make a stem cell donation to him.
Now, they are holding a blood drive where volunteers can test to see if they are a match for Lucas or anyone else in need of a bone marrow transplant.
"At this point it's the only alternative to help try and beat this and keep him alive," Anthony said. "If we can't find a match for our son, we hope that the folks that sign up ... maybe one day they'll be a match for somebody else."
The event, which will be held Friday at the Jefferson Park Donor Center, 5316 N. Milwaukee Ave., will offer attendees a chance to donate blood through Lifesource and sign up for the Be the Match registry. The registry keeps track of donors so they can be linked with people they "match" to provide life-saving bone marrow donations.
Seeing if you're a match for Lucas — or anyone who needs a donation — is free and quick: The inside of your cheek is swabbed with a tool that resembles a Q-tip, and the DNA on the swab is added to the Be the Match registry so you can be informed if you match anyone in need of a donation in the future. You can also sign up online to get a free testing kit mailed to your house.
Lucas' "match" could be anyone, and Anthony said his family is trying to raise awareness of their son and childhood cancer in general with the blood and bone marrow drive.
"We're hoping to find that donor," Anthony said. "They could be down the street, they could be across the country ...."
The blood and bone marrow drive is 4-8 p.m. Friday at the Jefferson Park Community Donor Center, 5316 N. Milwaukee Ave. Appointments are preferred but walk-ins are welcome. To schedule an appointment, call 877-543-3768 or go to Lifesource.org and use the code "LUCAS."
This will be the first of "many" blood and bone marrow drives the family wants to organize, Anthony said.
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