By Katie Schleiss
A matching bone marrow donor has been found for 4-year-old Liam McNassar. A bone marrow registration drive was held on Sept. 9 at the University of Portland campus in his honor, after initial struggles to find a donor failed.
Liam's parents, Brendan and Lisette McNassar, are alumni of the University of Portland and have been conducting donor drives throughout the city in search of a match for their son.
Liam was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May. Ever since, his parents have worked to find a matching donor.
Initially, a search in the international bone marrow donor registry, including more than 11 million registered donors, resulted in no matches.
More than 500 bone marrow donors were registered at the University of Portland.
Junior Gustav Neve was one of the members who worked to carry out the bone marrow drive. Although donor identities are kept confidential, the turnout at the bone marrow drive was impressive.
According to Neve, the McNassar family is grateful for all of community members at the University of Portland who registered to become donors.
"All I can say is that I am ecstatic that a match was found for Liam. I am very happy that Liam will be OK and his family can now move on from this ordeal as he starts the road to recovery," Neve said.
For more information on Liam and upcoming registration events, visit www.littleliam.net. Information about registering as a bone marrow donor can be found at www.marrow.org.
