Meet 4-year-old Ailani!
On March 2nd, 2019, Ailani Myers, a month shy of her 3rd birthday, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (MLL-rearranged). Ailani was in Texas visiting family when she became ill. Her treatment was started at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center during which many medical tests and procedures to include blood transfusions, spinal taps, steroid treatments, and chemotherapy were performed.
At this point, Ailani did not respond well enough to chemotherapy so she was transferred to Johns Hopkins Children’s in Baltimore for more aggressive treatment. Her oncology team is recommending she receive a bone marrow transplant within a matter of a few weeks.
Ailani, being mixed race, has a very poor chance of finding a good donor match. Her father is a Chief Warrant Officer in the Navy and mom is recently retired, Chief Petty Officer. Without a match on the registry, the Doctor’s decision to have her dad be her donor. For over a year she was doing well with only 3 rounds of chemo left to go and that’s when they got the news that she had relapsed.
Help us find Ailani her match!
Only 1 in 430 are ever called to be a match! Be a hero with one cheek swab and save a life!
Looking for more information? Contact: Beth Carrion at ecarrion@nmdp.org or 210-214-7130 to learn more, or, to host a social media campaign!