Deja View : An Updated Look at Some of the Stories Featured Here During the Year : Leukemia Patient : As Disease Advances, Boy Seeks Marrow Donor

In March, readers learned about attempts to help 10-year-old Adam Brock, a child suffering from leukemia and in need of a bone marrow donor.

Now, after several donor drives, increased doses of chemotherapy and a surgical procedure that sometimes rids the body’s marrow of cancerous cells, Adam is still in need of a donor whose marrow matches his.

During the summer, Adam was hospitalized so doctors could perform an autologous procedure. This meant that all of Adam’s own bone marrow was taken from his body, treated for the cancerous cells, then returned to his body. The procedure did not work.

“This year has been grueling for all of us,” said Laurie Brock, Adam’s mother. “We need a donor desperately.”

Adam’s leukemia is now advancing, and time is running out.

Doctors say Adam’s only chance for survival is a bone marrow transplant. Because none of Adam’s immediate family matches his marrow type, Adam must find a donor from a non-related person. The odds of finding such a donor are 20,000 to 1.

“Somebody out there has the same type of bone marrow as Adam,” Laurie Brock said. “If we can find that person, our little boy will be able to beat this thing. It’s our only hope.”

For information about being tested as a possible bone marrow donor for Adam Brock, call the American Red Cross National Marrow Donor program at (213) 739-4594.