KLEBERG COUNTY, Texas — November happens to be National Marrow Awareness Month.
Every year, thousands of patients who are fighting leukemia and other blood cancers need a matching donor to receive a marrow or stem cell transplant, especially now during the pandemic.
For one brave 18-year-old from Kleberg County, her best hope for a cure is a transplant.
"It's just really scary out there and I'm fragile," said Desiree Elizondo.
Desiree or 'Dez' Elizondo admits being stuck at home most of the time can be difficult.
The 18-year-old and her family are taking extra precautions to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic because of her leukemia diagnosis.
"My family as well, we all have certain things that we just got to be careful with. If I get it, we don't want anything like that to happen," said Monica Cisneros, Dez's stepmother.
Dez learned she had this type of blood cancer about two years ago when she noticed she didn't feel quite right. Her situation quickly escalated when she fainted at school and was rushed to the hospital.
Today the high school student is now in need of a bone marrow transplant, but to receive one she needs a donor who is the same genetic tissue type.
"I think what a lot of the community doesn't realize is that when we go matching a patient with a donor, it has nothing to do with blood types, its all-ethnic background," said Leticia Mondragon with the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center and Be the Match.
Mondragon said for Dez and others in the Hispanic community who are searching for a match, it can be difficult.
"We have less than 10 percent representation of Latinos and Hispanics in our registry, so patients such as Dez that we are talking about right now has a 46 percent chance of finding a match. I think a lot of it is, people are afraid to sign up on the registry, they think it's going to be this painful surgical procedure where now, 80 percent is a peripheral stem cell donation," said Mondragon.
The pandemic has also affected donations and registration numbers, Mondragon said they are not as good as they could be.
In the meantime, Dez's family hopes that more people will join the registry if not for her, then for another patient like her.
"I just want to thank those who signed up to help me, because it's just really needed, it means a lot to me. If they don't come out for a match for me, they could come out to a match for someone else and that's still good," said Elizondo.
On Thursday November 19, there will be a marrow registry drive at the Nueces County Courthouse from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sign up takes about 10-15 minutes with an online registration form and a cheek swab. You can also register with Be the Match by texting dez to 61474.
There is a GoFundMe set up to help with medical expenses,
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