Donors needed for blood drive on Saturday

BY Betty Williams

Saturday’s blood drive and bone marrow screening is in honor of Pam Malcolmson’s grandson Trevor Kott who passed away in April 2007. Photo provided by Pam Malcolmson

Longtime Canyon Lake resident Pam Malcolmson urges residents to come donate at a blood and bone marrow screening drive tomorrow between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot behind Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in the Canyon Lake Towne Center. Walk-ins are welcome and donation participants will receive an automatic entry to win a pair of Disneyland tickets.

Pam organized Saturday’s drive in honor of her grandson, Trevor Kott, who was diagnosed with congenital acute myelogenous leukemia shortly after his birth in October 2006.

Although initial treatments were successful the leukemia cells returned and Trevors only chance for survival was a bone marrow transplant. Sadly. Trevor passed away at six months of age before a matching donor could be found.

Saturday’s bone marrow screening and blood drive will be conducted by Lifestream. Lifestream is a not-for-profit comprehensive blood organization serving 80 medical facilities throughout Southern California. In order to meet an annual demand of 175,000 blood transfusions Lifestream requires 500 donations daily.

Potential bone marrow donors can be screened with a simple swab to the cheek by LifeStream, the only organization in Riverside and San Bernardino counties to partner with Be The Match, a national bone marrow registry.

People planning on attending the blood and bone marrow screening drive are encouraged to register with LifeStream at lstream.org. By registering online donors can participate in the LifeStream rewards program, Heart of Gold. Once registered, reward points are earned with each donation. Reward points can be redeemed on LifeStream’s online store for movie theatre tickets, restaurant and gas gift cards.

To become a bone marrow donor people must be between the ages of 18 to 44 and meet specific health guidelines. For those between the ages of 45 to 60, registry can be accepted with a $100 tax deductible contribution.

Blood donors must be over the age of 15 of age, donors under the age of 18 are required to have parental consent. A photo identification will be required for anyone wishing to donate.

For more information, contact Pam at 951-244-2926.