The Texan Transplant

He's a life-long Hoosier, but living in Houston at this time. His entire family is back in his small hometown in southwestern Indiana waiting for him and wishing for the day when he'll get to come back home. His friends want him back home too. And he wishes that day would come real soon, but he's still not sure when that day will come. That's because my friend Kenny is staying in Texas fighting a huge battle with leukemia.

Kenny's had several rounds of this in the past. In fact, he had leukemia and went into remission before he even found out he had it. It was found during a routine pre-surgery blood test when he was about to have his shoulder worked on. After a year or so (best as I can remember), it did come back. Kenny seemed very calm about the whole thing. He'd go get his treatment and come back to work. He always looked well, too. The leukemia would go back into remission for awhile, and then surface again.

I guess the leukemia has gotten too smart for Hoosier remedies and now it's going to take a bone marrow transplant. So Kenny is staying in Houston getting treatments in preparation for his BMT, which was donated by his sister. Kenny will make the fifth person I know that has had his life saved by a bone marrow transplant. That's pretty amazing. A few years ago, I didn't know of anyone that had a BMT. Just last year a generous donor gave my 15-year-old great-nephew a new lease on life. Today he's back in school and on his high-school football team once again.

So please, if you're healthy and under 60, consider registering to be a bone marrow donor. Even if you have to open your wallet and pay for the registration, it's worth it to possibly save someone's life. If you watch, you can sometimes find blood drives that also register you for bone marrow transplantation. The Navy, pioneers of bone marrow transplants, also has a grant in place that pays around 50 percent of the cost of registration. For more information, visit www.marrow.org.

And if you're pregnant or know someone who is, look into saving the baby's cord blood. You can get information on that at the same website.

Kenny, you're still in our prayers. We love you, buddy.