Every three minutes someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a form of blood cancer.
At the age of 36, one word changed Sara Hobbs’ life forever…her aunt, Tania Carreon, shared with us what that moment was like for their family.
"We fell to the floor, we fell to the floor all of us i think were in denial, in shock and then in denial. No it has to be something else. It can’t be that. There’s no way you could have this," said Carreon
Inside her Bakersfield home… Sara opened about how it all started…"I started feeling really tired and it got to a point when i couldn't’t even walk to the car. And ended up in the hospital and got a phone call the next morning saying i tested positive for leukemia.”
Toward’s the end of April Sara’s family got the news she had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. "We’re the ones that said not us, not us, leukemia is such a big word but it happened to us. Here we are.," said Carreon.
To save Sara’s life… she needs a bone marrow transplant. But it may be a lot harder for her.. because of her ethnicity. Ethnicity is a critical component in finding a match. She’s Hispanic...and statically, Hispanics have a much harder time finding a match.
The "Be The Match website shows the likely hood of finding a matched donor by patient ethnic background. For white people.. the chart shows there’s only a three-percent chance they do not match for Hispanics… it’s 20-percent. So her family is stepping in.. Holding a bone marrow drive next Saturday. "They want ages 18 to 44 because that is the prime age and they want good bone marrow for her so that there is more of a chance for her body accepting it and not rejecting it," said Carreon.
Sara hopes this drive will help her or someone else also in her shoes.. Find that perfect match. "I’m not worried about me ‘cause i know what’s gonna happen with me. I’m worried about the only child i have, my family, my loved ones," said Hobbs as she wipes away tears.
Her family promises to do one thing for her every day. "This leukemia is not gonna win us, and i told her don’t cry, i go we’re gonna come out champions. It’s not gonna take over," said Hobbs' mother Sarah Hernandez. Fight…fight for her every day.
The Saving Sara Bone Marrow Drive will be held at this home (4010 Sierra Madre Avenue) in Southwest Bakersfield next Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
