Bridget Morris Being treated

A routine physical for school sports turned out to be anything but for Sunset Middle School's Bridget Morris.

In late October, the 12-year-old blonde basketball player and her family learned a blood test showed she had a high white cell count. Doctors investigated, diagnosing her with myelogenous leukemia.

In an e-mail, Ann Morris, Bridget's mother, said that since October, her daughter has been taking a medication, gleevec, which affects the molecular trigger of the leukemia. Each week, Bridget has had her blood tested at The Bay Clinic and about once a month, a sample of her bone marrow has been sent to Portland for testing.

Bridget recently started having small chemotherapy treatments, Morris added.

"We are very proud of her and her accomplishments," Morris said. "She is a joy to be around and shows great poise for her age."

Physicians have decided that Bridget's best chance for survival is a bone marrow transplant, Morris said, but none of her family members is a close enough match.

"We have been trying to locate a bone marrow donor for Bridget through the national bone marrow bank," Morris said. "Out of 8 million candidates, we had five matches - not a very promising percentage."

Morris said the first donor looked promising but proved not to be a complete match. She said two of the matches are women over the age of 50 who have had children. The Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland would prefer not to use their marrow as a first choice and wants to continue searching. The remaining two matches have not been located.

Now the Morris family is turning to the community for help.

"Friends of Bridget" will hold a blood-screening drive on Saturday, April 5, to see if anyone in the community is a match. The drive will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the downtown Coos Bay Fire Station.

Several local groups have been working to raise funds for the drive, said Jerry Worthen, one of the local businessmen involved in the event. Organizers hope to have 400 people tested and each test costs $85.

To help offset the cost, the group is raising funds and asking local businesses and individuals to help underwrite the drive. A recent basketball game at Sunset raised $3,000 for the drive. Two Bank of America accounts have been established: one for funding the bone marrow drive and the other to help pay for Bridget's medical costs.

"We don't want to let the cost be prohibitive. We want to get people to do this," Worthen said.

While getting their blood checked for Bridget, people also can be listed on the national bone marrow registry to help others around the nation and world. Worthen said potential donors need to be between the ages of 18 and 60 and in general good health.

Bridget's battle is personal for Worthen. His daughter, Allison, is a friend of Bridget's and the two families have known each other since the Morris' moved to the Bay Area several years ago.

"We're close to the Morris family and this compelled me to jump at the chance to help," Worthen said. "Bridget is a sweetheart of a girl. My heart just aches when I think about it.

"This is an opportunity to possibly save someone's life," he added. "To not do something doesn't seem fathomable to me."

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Those who believe they are already registered in the bone marrow transplant data bank can call (503) 284-1234 or send an e-mail to mdspdx@usa.redcross.org to check.

For more information about Bridget's blood screening drive, those interested can call 269-2202.