SACRAMENTO-
Allayah Phan is in the fight of her life, battling a rare disease, and she is need of a hero.
The 9-year-old from Sacramento needs a bone marrow donor. There is one donor that’s an 83 percent match — but the person is all the way in Thailand and comes with a high risk of her body rejecting the marrow.
At 9, Allayah loves school.
“I like writing and reading,” she said.
And she even has future plans: “I want to be a hip-hop dancer,” she said.
But right now, those dreams are on hold. Allayah hasn’t been able to step inside a classroom. Instead of a daily lesson, she has a daily dosage — rounds of medicine to battle severe aplastic anemia, a disease she was diagnosed with in March 2014.
“The immune system attacks her own bone marrow,” her mother said.
It’s hard to tell by just looking at the fourth grader, but like the name of the illness, the symptoms are severe: shortness of breath, fatigue, and if she takes a minor fall, bleeding can be fatal.
The medical bills are mounting, and the family has even set up a GoFundMe account. And there’s a push to get local people registered to see if they could be a marrow match.
Awake, sitting in her hospital bed at Kaiser Roseville, Allayah has a message, “Come and see if you are my perfect match.
Allayah is hosting a local bone marrow drive from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 23 at the King Quang Temple, located at 3119 Alta Arden Express Way, Sacramento.
Anyone can join the national bone marrow registry, Be The Match, by visiting a BloodSource Donor Center. You can also donate blood on Allayah’s behalf at any BloodSource location — her donor club number is 0334.
If you have questions for BloodSource, call (866) 822-5663.
