Sheriff’s Deputy [USMC Veteran], Father Of 3, In Desperate Need Of Bone Marrow Transplant

CBSLA.com) ^ | November 13, 2012 7:21 PM

[BenLurkin]

MENIFEE (CBSLA.com) — A Menifee man who has confronted challenges as both a marine and law enforcement officer is now facing the biggest battle of his life.

Sal Aguirre and his wife, Kristi, have three children: teenagers Keira and Cheyene and 10-year-old Jacob.

“They’re doing good. It’s hard,” Kristi says through tears.

Sal has AML5 or acute monocytic leukemia.

So far, chemotherapy is doing the job. He’s in remission, and he’s a fighter. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and now, he’s a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy.

Heading to work last May 9, he called his wife. He said he had a stomach ache and his gums were bleeding. Kristi typed those symptoms into Google and what she found – leukemia – scared her.

“It scared me because he’s always been the healthy one,” she says.

Sal spent the next two months at Kaiser Permanente in Riverside. In fact, he’s spent four of the last six months there and will be back for three weeks of treatment around Christmastime. After that, there’s no guarantee.

“There is a high probability that the cancer will come back within 30 to 90 days,” Sal says.

“If it comes back, he’ll have probably less than six months to live,” Aguirre’s wife says.

His only real hope is a bone marrow transplant, and so far, there are no matches. Without the bone marrow transplant, chances of survival are slim to none.

More bone marrow donors are desperately needed.

“We don’t know; we don’t know how long we have,” Kristi says.

The family’s only hope is for someone they don’t know to become a lifesaver for Sal through the bone marrow registry. To register, visit Be The Match.

[BenLurkin]

“Be the Match”
http://marrow.org/Home.aspx

[dadfly]

Lord, i ask that you this man and his family, please.

bone marrow registry is a good thing. relatively easy to register as a donor back in the day.

[narses]

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[narses]

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[Duchess47]

Praying now.

[AKA Elena]

My granddaughter had the adult form of acute monocytic leukemia, diagnosed when she was 9 ... by accident and she already had a blastic tumor in her shin bone and was in stage 4 when discovered. I explained the bone marrow program innumerable times here on FR and other news exchanges on line ... and the life or lives that could be saved through this small program back then. I also told of the wisdom of umbilical cords and their possible saving of lives that are contained in their being tested and stored for future use.

Jennifer is now 24 and received her random bone marrow transplant from some wonderful man in PA, even while she lived here in Southern California, when she was close to or had just turned 12.

As a Kaiser Patient we held several possible donor drives right here in the Antelope Valley of upper L.A. county,in the three years of shots and chemo, while we waited in prayerful mode for that generous person who might have matched.

Her surgery was performed at the City of Hope and the months while it took hold were filled with fear and hope all at the same time.

It is not a difficult decision when one realizes that the stakes are so high and the possibility of being to give the gift of life is filled with the Graces from Our Lord.

Jennifer's DNA was changed by the process and she just last year had her ONLY child (the one the Dr's predicted would never be), Serenity Grace, a beautiful girl, and now is experiencing the joys of motherhood.

Not only are my prayers for this young man and his family --- also my gratitude to him for his choice of vocation and my understanding of what he is experiencing. I recommend that every person who is healthy and well have their testing done for WHOMEVER might need the gift of life from them sometime. Contact either the City of Hope about collection and being entered in that Wheel of Fortune that is the Bone Marrow Donor program.