- Doctors suggested a
bone marrow transplant to treat Kimberly Crompton's son, who has leukemia. - She learned that Black Americans find a perfect blood match about a third as often as white Americans.
- Crompton set out to get more people of color on the
bone marrow donation registry.
Kimberly Crompton's 14-year-old son, Jehvan, was supposed to be getting surgery on his foot. Ahead of the operation, doctors ran routine blood work, and they found something unexpected: Jehvan had the blood cancer Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).
The news was jarring, especially since Jehvan hadn't shown any obvious symptoms.
"Really, a kid? My kid - has cancer?" Crompton told CNN.
Racial disparities in bone marrow donation
Soon, Crompton learned that Jehvan needed to find a bone marrow donor, and that being Black could affect Jehvan's chances of finding a match. While white Americans have a 77% chance of finding a bone marrow match, Black Americans have just a 23% chance because fewer Black individuals are registered as donors, according to the Be The Match foundation.
"Currently, individuals of Black and African American ancestry are underrepresented on the registry, making it more difficult to find donor matches for those suffering from blood diseases like sickle cell," Mary Halet, director of Community Engagement at Be The Match, said in 2017.
Crompton set out to try to change that by sharing Jahvan's story widely, and encouraging more people of color to become registered as donors. She wanted to add 200 people to the registry, but more than 11,000 have signed up due to her efforts.
She told CNN she hopes that her son's story has highlighted the importance of African American donors. Bone marrow donation is important not only for people with blood cancer, like Jahvan. It's also the only known cure for sickle-cell disease, which disproportionately affects people who are Black or Hispanic.
Jehvan is still waiting for a match
Despite the outpouring of support for donor registration, Jehvan still doesn't have a match. After a round of oral chemotherapy failed to slow the cancer's progression, he's now on a more invasive treatment plan while he awaits a bone marrow transplant.
Until then, the family is relying on their faith to help them get through Jehvan's cancer treatment.
Jehvan said he recognizes that signing up more potential donors could help him, but also thousands of other kids in need of a bone marrow transplant.
"I see myself as another person trying to help everybody else out who won't ask for help," he told CNN.