[cubreporter]

Saw his post #451. Praying all goes well. He's young, strong and has the stength and support of his loving family plus all their prayers and all of ours. I'm going to think positive and pray, pray, pray this young man will recover and live to a ripe old age so he can tell his children and grandchildren about his time in Iraq and his medical struggle as well. That way they can see what a strong man their daddy and grandpa was whe he was fighting for the Iraqi people and for his own life.

[Cajun Mike]

OK Freepers, It's time for y'all to work your magic again!

Cajun Mike here, and I was asked by Chris' family today to post this update. Chris has what the doctors are calling aplastic anemia, and is definitely in need of a bone marrow transplant. Care is needed to guard against infection among other things since Chris' blood counts (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) are low. His spirits are good (he's laughing and joking), but is constantly fatigued as a result of the anemia.

Chris has blood type O positive, and the family is making a request to the general public for consideration of someone with this blood type becoming a transplant donor. From my understanding, a blood sample is all that is required to determine whether someone is a candidate to be a donor. My wife is going to be one of the (hopefully) many volunteers willing to be typed for a possible match. I believe that there will soon be a local (southern California) press release also making this same request for possible donors.

Chris and Melany have come too far to give up hope now. Please do all that you can to get the word out for this very important request.

Sincere thanks,

Cajun Mike