Boy with Leukemia Auctioned Advertising Space on His Head

Eleven-year-old Pat Pedraja has Leukemia and a dream. He plans to raise money for people who need bone marrow transplants. On his eBay auction site Pedraja states, "Recently, someone I knew died from Leukemia after they were unable to find a matching bone marrow donor. I was scared that one day I may need a bone marrow transplant and may not be able to find a matching donor. That day I decided to do something to help and the idea of DRIVING FOR DONORS was born."

According to Pedraja, 70% of those in need of a bone marrow transplant will ultimately have to rely on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, because they will likely not find a match within their own families. As daunting as this is, it gets worse - it actually costs people do become a marrow donor. According to the Bone Marrow Foundation, the cost for HLA tissue typing ranges from $45 to $96. This is an obvious limitation in securing bone marrow donations and that's where Pedraja's fund raiser comes into play.

After losing most of his hair to chemotherapy, Pedraja asked his parents for permission to shave his head and sell advertising space to raise money to recruit and fund bone marrow donors. Pedraja posted an auction on eBay selling ad space on his head for a starting bid of $5,000. Sadly, the auction ended on November 12th with no bids, although the family received numerous messages of support.

But Pedraja's dream doesn't end there. He also started a Driving for Donors campaign and hopes to add 2,007 new donors in 2007. Pedraja is collecting donations on his website, DrivingForDonors.com, and will hit the road on May 15, 2007 in the "Donormobile" to raise awareness and secure potential donors for the National Marrow Donor Registry. They'll be on the road for 2 months hitting 20 major cities along the way.

Meanwhile, there's another young boy in Florida who can appreciate the efforts being made by Pedraja. Anthony Negrin, a 17-year-old Florida resident is in need of a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic blood disease which requires a bone marrow transplant for treatment. When Negrin's family found that his younger brother was a perfect donor match, they arranged for the transplant, but found that the younger Negrin, too, has Fanconi anemia. The family turned to the international and national bone marrow donor lists to find a match. Of the 15 million people on the bone marrow donor lists, not one is a match for Negrin. The Negrin family is being supported by their community, friends and family through fundraisers and are still seeking a donor. The Negrins are of Italian and Cuban descent and think a potential donor would likely be of the same ethnicity.

Pedraja's cause aims to raise awareness and help pay the testing fees for potential donors. His cause may help children like the Negrins in their search for a perfect donor match.

Pedraja's efforts have been featured on the local Tampa Bay news channels and also in the St. Petersburg Times.