Boy, 7, With Cancer Looking For Donor For Life-Saving Transplant

REDONDO BEACH, CA – A seven-year-old cancer patient is having trouble finding a bone marrow transplant, and he needs your help. Ryan Jacoby, from Redondo Beach, is at Children's Hospital Los Angeles preparing for his second battle with acute myeloid leukemia – an aggressive form of leukemia that children rarely get, according to ABC7.

After the cancer returned this month, Ryan needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant, but his family members are not a match, his family told KTLA. Jacoby is of Vietnamese and Caucasian descent, so finding an appropriate donor may be difficult, the news station reported.

When he was first diagnosed in kindergarten, his doctors searched every bone marrow registry for a match, but came up empty – only 4 percent of the registry is mixed race, ABC7 reported. Doctors tried a stem cell transplant with Ryan's brother Matt, who is a half match.

It worked for 18 months, and during that time Ryan went back to school. But a few weeks ago, the cancer returned.

To become a donor, go online and register with the recruitment group A3M. After registering, a swab kit is mailed to be completed at home. You can also sign up for Be The Match's national bone marrow registry at join.bethematch.org.match4ryan.

"To be the one person, I can't think of very many situations to be truly a hero," Ryan's father said.

For information about Ryan's case, visit Facebook.com/Match4Ryan.