LOS ANGELES (Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018) – The LA Galaxy teamed up with Gift of Life Marrow Registry to help Seth Akins, 11, of Rancho Cucamonga, meet his life-saving marrow donor Aaron Allen, 23, of Long Beach, for the first time as the Galaxy hosted the Seattle Sounders on Sunday.
Allen, a recent graduate of Washington State University at Pullman, donated his bone marrow last year to Akins, who was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia, at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Allen joined the marrow registry as a Gift of Life Campus Ambassador in 2015, working to recruit other students at his school to join and potentially save a life.
Now, Allen is studying to become a molecular biologist working with genetics, while Akins is a fun-loving boy who enjoys watching basketball, soccer and building Legos. The pair – who because of anonymity laws did not know one another’s identity – were introduced during halftime of the Galaxy game.
“Being a donor has shown me that even as an individual, I can help to change the life of another person,” said Allen. “I am more grateful that I was able to have such a relatively carefree life, and it gave me a bigger drive to help improve the lives of other individuals that are struggling in theirs.”
The LA Galaxy Foundation and Gift of Life Marrow Registry, recently teamed up to host a Kick Blood Cancer event at The Americana at Brand in Glendale on Sept. 9. The event encouraged guests to provide a simple cheek swab to help save people fighting blood cancer.
