Chicago family seeks bone marrow donor match for Fil-Am father

Andrew Parial, with daughter Angela, wife, Joanna, and daughter Adriana, needs a match for a bone marrow transplant. PINOYNEWSMAGAZINE

CHICAGO — The Parial family  is seeking a bone marrow donor match for Andrew (Drew) Parial, 42, who was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia (AML) in the summer of 2016.

Andrew is married to Dr. Joanna Maurice Parial, of Advocate Illinois Masonic, and they have two children, Angela, 5 years old and Adriana, 7 years old.

Drew is of Filipino descent and was raised in Michigan. He enjoys being active in school and church community and loves to ski with his family.

(Their daughter Angela was diagnosed with brain cancer in November and had surgery.  Unfortunately, the doctors couldn’t remove all the cancer because it is close to the stem of the brain, and there are some cancer cells in the cerebral spinal fluid.)

The ideal ages for a bone marrow match for Drew are from 18 to 44.  Minorities, especially Asians, have more difficulty finding matches because of the lack of registered donors. Therefore, they need to find more donors. Ideally, Drew’s best chance of matching is from a donor of Filipino heritage.

Please consider joining the Be the Match bone marrow registry. To register, please visit the link  https://join.bethematch.org/nomoreleufordrew. This link connects you to the website where you are asked some basic health questions and a kit will be mailed to you. Then, all it takes is a simple cheek swab to find out if you could be a match.