In 2010 I turned 39 years old and my daughter turned 2 years old. Throughout my adult life I have always sought new ways to contribute to children in meaningful ways as I have always believed that this was and is my purpose in life. In speaking with my girlfriend Krista she had discovered a soccer camp geared towards helping children, Soccer for Hope is a non-profit organization building awareness for pediatric cancer research and conducts an annual one-week summer soccer camp for young athletes in Mission Viejo, Ca. Every summer professional athletes, collegiate athletes and local coaches volunteer their time to coaching children during the one-week summer camp to help raise donations that benefit children with life threatening diseases.
A blood and bone marrow transplant is needed in order to save the lives of patients suffering from cancer, immune deficiencies and blood disorders. With many of these diseases it prevents the body from making enough healthy blood cells and many patients will die unless they receive a bone marrow or cord blood transplant from a genetically matched donor.
Since its inception in 1998, Soccer for Hope has been driven by the goal to give back to the many caretakers who save lives while raising awareness in the community about the needs of children who are less fortunate. Oliver Wyss, a former professional soccer player and survivor of Aplastic Anemia, founded Soccer for Hope, and has managed to reach thousands of people nationwide.
Upon learning this, I was immediately inspired and encouraged to help. I quickly signed up and was able to convince my youth team captains to help out as well. Under U18 players (Steve Palacios, Eric Mackie, Michael Breslin, Christian Gonzales) all quickly showed up and helped out during the training sessions and on the final day of the camp August 20th, I agreed to have my mouth swabbed to discover if I was a match to a child suffering from Leukemia. Standing at the table after having my mouth swabbed, I thought to myself I want to help fight this disease, however, if I was discovered as a match, I would not agree to donate. I had heard that the procedure was incredibly pain full but I walked away feeling pleased knowing I had contributed on the soccer field and only planned on attending again next year to help out with the camp, nothing more. I've since learned you can achieve anything, however, success without fulfillment is failure. I’ve met a lot of achievers, but I've met very few who are truly fulfilled.
On May 5th 2011, I received a phone message from Maria Garcia, a case manager for the BE THE MATCH REGISTRY. What we do as human beings is driven by our need to avoid pain and seek pleasure, but many of us have learned through life that certain things mean more pain than others. I had now come upon a crossroad as Miss Garcia’s message stated that I was a potential match to a 15 year old boy suffering from Leukemia. I was told he was in the process of receiving chemotherapy and a donor would be his last option, as the chemotherapy had not been working well. Nervously, I waited for 48 hours before calling her back. By then, she had left a second message.
I did finally call Miss Garcia back and after speaking with her for almost an hour, she was successful is placing all my fears to rest, and I felt motivated that this was something I wanted to do.
The next step would involve traveling to Fullerton on two separate days to donate 9 vile's of blood. After my blood was taken, the doctors ran numerous test to make sure I was a match and that I was free from any and all viruses. I received word on May 20th that all of my test results had returned negative and that I was indeed a match to this teenage boy. I was given a few dates and locations to have the procedure done and I chose July 7th 2011 at the Scripts Hospital in San Diego.
I traveled to the Scripts Hospital on June 8th to have an EKG and more blood work, more tests and to meet my doctor and staff for the first time. On July 3rd I began receiving injections each day to prepare my body for the procedure and was told these injections may cause side effects such as headaches, lower back spasms and possibly more.
I again traveled to the Scripts Hospital for the third time and began receiving daily Injections with 4 more injections to follow. On the July 4th weekend I was away with family in Coronado however the Hospital made sure a nurse showed up to give me my injections in Coronado. By then I was starting to have side effects including lower back spasms and headaches.
I made it to July 7th and arrived at Scripts Hospital at 7:00am for my 7 hour long procedure. During the procedure I had to lie on my back with lines from my arms into this machine which extracted my blood stem cells. I had to stay awake as to not disturb the procedure and I was not able to go to the bathroom until the procedure was complete, I was able to watch movies, have conversations as much as I wanted to all the time with my amazingly loving and supportive girlfriend Krista by my side.
Throughout the procedure my entire blood was removed from my body 4 times, the procedure ended at around 3:30pm and my blood stem cell was quickly given to a courier, my platelets were low as expected and I needed to come back to the hospital once more in about a month to make sure they had returned to normal levels.
As of today October 4th, the boy's immune system has accepted the stem cells and is now recovering from his disease. He has since been released from the hospital to live his life and enjoy his family. Today my platelets are back to normal and the day following the procedure my back spasm and headaches also went away. I am happy to report that I have no side effects from the procedure.
I would like to make it clear that I don't consider myself a hero nor do I think I did anything special. I did what any other parent would have done and would do it again in a heartbeat. I certainly believe that people are good at heart and someone would also do the same for my daughter or loved ones. I would also like to state that the procedure was time consuming and difficult to schedule at times, however NOT AT ALL PAINFULL, its a myth!!!
On Saturday October 15th at 6:00pm Soccer for Hope will host their 4th annual Dinner, live and silent auction benefiting cancer research at the Children Hospital Orange County and Los Angeles. The event will be held at Lew Webb Classic Car Museum in Aliso Viejo. You can find information on the web site Soccerforhope.org
Bryan Wallace
United FC older Boys Assistant Director
