CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A Chesapeake 7-year-old needs the community’s help to potentially save his life.
Cayden Addison was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 3 years old. He’s gone through many treatments, but doctors said he needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. Soulfull Vegan VA is holding an event this Sunday, Jan. 14, at Scope to promote healthy living and help find a match for Cayden.
“For us it’s critical because my son doesn’t deserve to have to go through this,” said Cayden’s mother, Courtney. “He’s 7. Such a sweet and loving kid.”
Cayden previously had a match, but it didn’t work out, so now he and his family are hoping someone from the community can step up to help save his life.
“I just found out today that one of his numbers is increasing, so it’s even more pressing now to do as much testing as we can because he needs it,” Courtney said.
When Cayden isn’t attending first grade at Greenbrier Primary, he loves to play video games, hang out with his brother and dance.
“We really have to find a bone marrow donor, and that’s going to be his best chance of beating [cancer] and surviving,” Courtney said.
The event at the Norfolk Scope is free and open to the public. It runs from 12-6 p.m.
“You don’t have to be vegan to attend,” said Soulfull Vegan VA Event Curator, Tree Kelty. “It’s just like a health and wellness expo with a vegan twist, so health food demonstrations, exercise demonstrations and it’s free to the public.”
“This isn’t just your normal fundraiser, this is life-saving work that’s being done,” said Courtney.
Kelty said she would cry if the community was able to come together to find a match for him. Kelty said her mom has volunteered with NMDP, formerly known as Be the Match, and had the idea to incorporate a bone marrow drive into the Health and Wellness Expo.
“She has a heart for the community, and so when she mentioned, ‘Let’s do a bone marrow drive’ — it just came together,” said Kelty.
Usually a patient’s family members can be a match, but NMDP said they match just 30% of the time, so the rest of the time they rely on unrelated donors from the registry.
“While we are sharing Cayden’s story because he has an urgent need for a transplant, when you join the registry, you are joining to be a match for Cayden or anyone like Cayden,” said NMPD account manager Amy Schatz.
NMDP said to get tested you must be between 18 and 40, and it’s a simple cheek swab.
If you join, you’ll be on the registry until your 61st birthday, and your cells could be a match for anyone in the world.
“We want people to be excited, and ready to donate whenever they are called for a patient in need,” said Schatz.
In the meantime, Cayden’s family hopes you’ll be a match for him now.
“Eventually, I hope we find a cure for this, but in the meantime we know that bone marrow transplants can really make a difference,” said Courtney.
If you can’t make it out this weekend, but still want to see if you are a match, you can text “CaydenCFC” to 61474 and testing information will come straight to your phone.
If you text that number, or sign up through his QR code, Cayden’s family will be able to see the big impact his story has had on everyone around him.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.