Hope for Rorie: Clear Lake girl, 3, needs a hero

HOUSTON

Rorie is from Clear Lake. She's bright-eyed with blonde hair and a bubbly personality, and she's tough.

Rorie has hypodiploidy acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the white blood cells. She is in desperate need of a life-saving bone marrow transplant, but her family and doctors are having no luck finding a match.

"She's a very sweet and loving little girl," family friend Nicole Krampota said. "And she needs a hero, as soon as possible."

Rorie's family is putting together two donor drives this weekend. The public is invited to attend and sign up to join the National Bone Marrow Registry. You could be a match for little Rorie or another patient in need.

The first drive is 9am to noon Saturday at E.A. Smith Family YMCA, located at 14650 Highway 3 in Webster. The second is 2-4pm Saturday at Cypress Creek Fire Station 24 on FM 1960 at Perry Road.

Registering as a bone marrow donor is quick and painless, requiring only a cheek swab. Then, if you are someone's life-saving match, donating could be as easy as giving blood.

Rorie's family and friends are down to the wire. Her survival rate is 5 to 20 percent. Donor drives have been held nationwide for the girl, but her perfect match is still out there somewhere.

"Rorie is wonderful. Her attitude in the middle of all of this is wonderful," her mother, Savannah Joslin, said. "Her spirit and laughter is what's keeping my family going."

For more information about the donation process, visit www.BeTheMatch.org. You can also register online at their website.

For more information about Rorie and her journey, visit her Facebook page.
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