Comrades Tested to Help Ailing Marine
 Lance Cpl. Chris LeBleu
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Lance Cpl. Chris LeBleu of Lake Charles, La., was listed Sunday in fair condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he has been hospitalized since January, a hospital spokeswoman said.
LeBleu received an emergency liver transplant but now his body is not producing enough red blood cells and doctors say he may need a bone marrow transplant.
"This is just a bump in the road. It's a big bump, but it's something that we're going to overcome together," said his wife, Melany LeBleu. "He's a fighter and he's fighting even harder today."
When news spread of LeBleu's need, about 200 people donated blood or took tests to determine whether they would be suitable marrow donors.
In addition, 2,000 Marines volunteered to be tested at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, where LeBleu is stationed.
The Marine Corps expects another 5,000 Marines will be tested in the search for a suitable donor, said LeBleu's wife, Melany.
Doctors expect to find no more than three or four potential matches among the group, his wife said.
The transplanted liver, which came from a 63-year-old woman from Littleton, Colo. who died in a New Mexico car crash, is functioning well, hospital spokeswoman Julie Smith said.
LeBleu, of Lake Charles, La., returned from seven months of duty in Iraq in September and married his wife, Melany, a month later. She has said he began feeling ill in December, and it kept getting worse. By the end of January, his doctors said he was near death from total liver failure.
Last Updated: Mar 7, 2005
Seven thousand marines are stepping up to help a fellow marine. That`s the word from Loma Linda, California where Lake Charles native Chris LeBleu is recovering from a liver transplant.