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Case Study: Patrick Pedraja
Patrick Pedraja, 12-year-old acute lymphoblastic leukemia patient and entrepreneur, used his head — literally — to add donors to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry. The enterprising boy used eBay to sell advertising space on his bald head to help defray the $52 it costs to test a donor’s tissue type. He raised $5,100 thanks to winning bidder, All Road Communications, a San Diego-based satellite phone company. Launching a national donor driveInspired by this initial success, Pat decided to expand his efforts to recruit donors. He launched a 31-city national donor drive — One Child’s Dream. Driving for Donors. His goal? To add 5,000 new donors to the NMDP Registry.Pat came up with the donor drive idea after watching a TV program profiling Farrah Gray, a young black entrepreneur whose sister, Greek Gray, was battling leukemia. The program highlighted the critical shortage of potential donors in black, Latino and other diverse communities. Greek Gray died several weeks later. Part Cuban, Pat was inspired by Greek’s story. He wanted to make a difference by helping to diversify and expand the NMDP Registry. During the spring and summer of 2007, Pat and his family traveled across the country in a special “Donormobile” (a donated RV) to host donor drives in major U.S. cities, including Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Minneapolis. Raising awarenessThroughout his journey, Pat gained attention for his efforts — he appeared in newspapers around the country, met Adam Sandler at a movie premiere, scored tickets to an NBA playoff game and appeared on the Today Show.Achieving successBest of all, Pat exceeded his recruitment goal. Through Driving for Donors, he recruited more than 5,000 new donors to the NMDP Registry. This kid is an inspiration to others. Did we mention he’s only 12 years old?
Start your own effortYou can work with us to launch your own campaign to recruit bone marrow donors.And if you have your own creative idea, contact us to see how we can help you put it into action — e-mail us at outreach@nmdp.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2 (1-800-627-7692). |
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