Robert Bao Raising Awareness About Leukemia After Surviving the Disease
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Robert Bao knew something was wrong during a softball game when he was running bases and was suddenly out of breath, The Republican American reports.
One of Bao's teammates was a nurse and urged him to go to the doctor to be checked out. That is when he found out that he had T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
One month prior to being diagnosed, Bao had his cheek swabbed to see if he was a bone-marrow match for a young girl with the same type of cancer. He now had to find a donor of his own.
"Somehow, they found a guy who, for whatever reason, had joined the registry," he told the news source. "We were a perfect match. Because he joined, I am alive today."
Bao is now encouraging others to have their cheeks swabbed and join the national registry to help others who are in desperate need of bone marrow. He has organized a softball tournament that will raise fund to benefit local children who are suffering from cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), there will be more than 43,000 new cases of leukemia diagnosed this year in the United States.
Symptoms of leukemia may include weight loss, tiredness, fever, night sweats and loss of appetite. The shortage of red blood cells, which occurs when leukemia cells begin to accumulate in the bone marrow preventing normal red blood cells from being made, may cause anemia and lead to other complications like shortage of white blood cells or platelets.
The ACS provides a detailed overview of leukemia and what may be expected if one is diagnosed with the disease. They also list the different forms of treatment available and what an individual may do to help prevent the illness from recurring once it is cured.
One of Bao's teammates was a nurse and urged him to go to the doctor to be checked out. That is when he found out that he had T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
One month prior to being diagnosed, Bao had his cheek swabbed to see if he was a bone-marrow match for a young girl with the same type of cancer. He now had to find a donor of his own.
"Somehow, they found a guy who, for whatever reason, had joined the registry," he told the news source. "We were a perfect match. Because he joined, I am alive today."
Bao is now encouraging others to have their cheeks swabbed and join the national registry to help others who are in desperate need of bone marrow. He has organized a softball tournament that will raise fund to benefit local children who are suffering from cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), there will be more than 43,000 new cases of leukemia diagnosed this year in the United States.
Symptoms of leukemia may include weight loss, tiredness, fever, night sweats and loss of appetite. The shortage of red blood cells, which occurs when leukemia cells begin to accumulate in the bone marrow preventing normal red blood cells from being made, may cause anemia and lead to other complications like shortage of white blood cells or platelets.
The ACS provides a detailed overview of leukemia and what may be expected if one is diagnosed with the disease. They also list the different forms of treatment available and what an individual may do to help prevent the illness from recurring once it is cured.
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