Area boy needs bone marrow match to stay alive
By Angela Randazzo

Andrew Harris

“He lights up the room,” said Diane Shipley of her grandson Andrew Harris.

“The joy is, Andrew doesn’t know he’s sick,” she said. “All the radiation and chemotherapy has left him mentally and physically challenged.”

Two days before his 11th birthday in June, Andrew was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a life-threatening disease of the bone marrow. MDS, a precursor to leukemia, causes the number of red cells, white cells and platelets in the blood to fall and abnormal cells to be produced. Andrew is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.

“Andrew was born with a rare blood cancer, and he’s had two bone marrow transplants in the past,” said Shipley. “Basically he’s been sick since birth. He’s in bone marrow failure again.”

Andrew was only 4 months old when he underwent his first bone marrow transplant and had a second operation when he was 2 years old. Both procedures took place at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

According to Shipley, the only blood cells Andrew has now are his donor cells, which are all abnormal and not producing the needed blood products.

“Finding a donor is like finding a needle in a haystack,” said Shipley. “We have to know in our hearts that we’ve done everything we could to help him.”

With the help of Ralphs grocery stores, Shipley and Christie Harris, Andrew’s mother, are organizing a bone marrow drive in selected Ralphs stores this month. Both Shipley and Harris are longtime Ralphs employees.

“Christie is one of our employees. Ralphs felt compelled to help her out as much as we can,” said Barbie Haugen, administrative assistant in the Wood Ranch office, who can answer questions about the drive at (805) 526-9706.

“Our goal is to find a match for her son because he will live if we do,” Haugen said.

“It’s amazing the amount of community support and family and friends we’ve had, and help from Ralphs,” Harris said.

The National Bone Marrow Registry will be seeking a match for Andrew tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 30, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Ralphs on 2726 Los Angeles Ave. Anyone between the ages of 18 and 60 and in general good health is welcome to be tested: a DNA sample is taken with a swab to the mouth, said Shipley. (See related story on page 13.)

If a match is found, the donor would be asked to undergo a medical procedure to extract the needed bone marrow.

“What they do is extract some of the marrow from your bone as the donor. It basically feels like a bad bruise,” said Shipley. “They usually do it on a Friday, and you’re well enough to go to work on Monday.”

The family thought they found a donor this summer. Harris took a leave of absence from the Moorpark Ralphs because Andrew was scheduled for a transplant this month.

“We held a drive back in August and found a perfect match donor,” said Harris. “The donor said he’d be available over the Christmas holidays to have the procedure done.”

However, according to Harris, a week before Andrew was scheduled to go into the hospital the donor said he had changed his mind and was no longer interested in donating.

“We need to act quickly; it’s not like we can wait another four moths to find a donor,” said Harris.

“When he had his last transplant, nobody in the United States matched him and they went to the international registry,” said Shipley. “He got his donor from Belgium.”

Harris and her family have suffered the devastating loss of two children due to the disease: Tyler, a daughter, survived a month, and a son, Chase, survived only a couple of days. Now a single mom, Harris thankfully has two healthy children, Stephanie, 18, a senior at Simi Valley High School, and Kacee, 13, a student at Valley View Middle School.

All members of Andrew’s family have been tested, but no one is a match to him.

“His sisters match like identical twins. If they ever need anything they’re a perfect match for each other, but nobody in the family is a match for Andrew,” said his grandmother. Andrew attended Sycamore El

ementary School as a fourth-grader through last June but couldn’t return in September due to his compromised immune system.

According to his mother, his spirit hasn’t changed despite all he’s gone through: the weekly blood tests and transfusions, continually getting poked with IVs and needles.

“He’s full of life and love and happiness,” said his Harris. “You wouldn’t know he was sick unless you saw his bloodwork.”