Last Saturday I had the amazing good fortune of being hired by the Petaluma Argus Courier to document a bone marrow drive for CJ Banaszek, an 11 year old boy from Petaluma who has been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.
When I arrived at the Petaluma Valley Athletic Club where the drive was held the parking lot was overflowing. In fact, when I left I towed a Mercedes out of the tall grass with my F250, but that’s another story. Inside the club the sound of voices was deafening. Hallways were clogged with people dutifully filling out the required paperwork to participate in the bone marrow drive. Each participant needed to take a cheek swab for a DNA test. Approximately 2000 people were there that day, everyone from soccer moms to paramedics to families to contractors to fraternity members from the local college. Seeing such an amazing show of community support gave me hope. I’ve long since stopped paying much attention to the news as I’ve grown jaded by the sensationalism of the news broadcasters. The world can’t be that bad off if our little town of Petaluma can lift up one family with such an inspiring display of goodwill.
Jill Stark helps Kevin Burris take his cheek swap for the bone marrow drive at the Petaluma Valley Athletic Club.
CJ shoots the ball during the bone marrow drive to find the one in a million donor.
Team CJ headed by Libby Sears (far left) works hard to raise money selling over 3000 golf balls.
It takes a village - and the shirts say it all.
The hallways of Petaluma Valley Atheltic Club were crowded as over a thousand people volunteered for the bone marrow drive on April 7th, 2012.
The Bennett family looks over the paperwork as they participate in the Bone Marrow Drive for CJ.
Check out the full gallery at Petaluma360
Happy Friday everyone!
