FIGHTING SPIRIT—Twenty-five-year-old Simi Valley resident and musician Victor Vega needs a bone marrow transplant to put his leukemia into remission. A bone marrow drive will be held in room one of the parish hall at St. Peter Claver Church this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Said Vega, who has been getting treatment at L.A.'s City of Hope: "I'm just excited that there's an opportunity for people to help out. It gives all my friends who care about me something to do. They can feel so helpless." A bone marrow drive will be held this Saturday for a 25yearold Simi Valley man who has been fighting leukemia all year.

Victor Vega, 25, has been receiving treatment at City of Hope since he was diagnosed in fall 2007. Vega was in remission last summer after a self-bone marrow transplant, but over the Thanksgiving holiday, he relapsed.

"Honestly, (the cancer) coming back was my worse nightmare," Vega said. "I felt like it was the worst possible news I could get. It's not fair and I didn't know what to expect and how to prepare, but somehow I'm doing okay. I'm able to cope."

Vega was visiting family in Washington, but is now back at City of Hope receiving radiation and chemotherapy. He is now in need of a donor bone marrow transplant.

"I want to be able to look back at this as some nightmare I got through," Vega said. "That's the goal. It's amazing how people get together like this. There's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world. But I kind of disagree when people get cynical. I really believe people are inherently good. From the beginning, this has been a really huge eye opener."

Kathy Gibbs, whose son is a friend of Vega, has opened her home to the leukemia sufferer. Since his family lives in Washington, Vega has been staying with the Gibbs' for the last year.

"He's a really good kid," Gibbs said. "I just hope he gets this break he needs."

The drive will be in room one of the parish hall at St. Peter Claver Church tomorrow, Dec. 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church is located at the corner of Cochran and Stow streets in Simi Valley.

"His only chance of remission is a donor transplant," Gibbs said. "Unfortunately very few minority groups have donated or agree to be donors for bone marrow. Our hopes are to inform the Hispanic community so that a possible match can be found."

Vivian Abernathy, who is organizing the drive from City of Hope, agreed.

"There is a particular need for all minority groups, and we do reach out quite a bit," Abernathy said.

There are about 650,000 Hispanic or Latino donors on the national bone marrow registry, as opposed to more than 5 million white donors. There are about 450,000 Asian donors and 515,000 African-American donors.

In Vega's case, a Hispanic donor has the best chance of being a match.

Vega said the radiation and chemotherapy do have their side effects, but that he's faring pretty well.

"I'm hanging in there and trying to keep my head up," Vega said. ""It's important to me for everybody around me to see that I'm improving and that I'm doing everything I can do. I want them to see that I'm trying, and I go to the gym everyday with my physical therapist even when I don't feel like it and my knees hurt and I'm tired. I owe it to myself. And I owe to everybody out there who cares about me."

Vega is in a band called Old School Crisis. They have played at many local venues including The Arena and the Grand Vista Hotel. His band members and friends have been distributing fliers all over town, Gibbs said.

"He's really into his music," Gibbs said. "And after going through this, he wants to go to Moorpark (College) and get into one of the helping professions, like becoming an EMT."

There are no needles involved in a bone marrow match test— just a mouth swab. By agreeing to be tested, the donors, who must be between 18 and 60, will be placed on the national bone marrow registry.

"I'm just excited that there's an opportunity for people to help out," Vega said. "It gives all my friends who care about me something to do. They can feel so helpless.

"And people who don't even know me are willing to help— that's so cool. And for whatever reason, if they aren't a match for me, they may have the opportunity to save someone else's life in the future. That's really powerful, really special."

City of Hope is absorbing the costs of the tests, which are $52 each.

Donations will be accepted.