One Amazing Kid

There's been some discussion in the support group in the last few days about a kid named Pat Pedraja.

Pat has leukemia, and is still going through treatments. He had a friend who died while waiting for a bone marrow/stem cell transplant because they couldn't find a donor match. So Pat (who's 12 years old) came up with the goal of signing up 2007 people for the National Bone Marrow Transplant List during 2007.

So far, he's inspired more than 10,000 people to register. He has a website for his cause, which he calls Driving for Donors. In the last few months, he's been recognized for his work with a CNN Heroes Viewers' Choice Award and a Do Something Award (which got his face on a Dorito's bag -- the Wheaties Box of the 21st century). And maybe most important for those of you of a certain generation, he's been praised by Lauren Conrad of MTV's The Hills for his good work. (Ms. Conrad gave Pat her trophy after shew won a Teen Choice Award.)

Pat first became known for by auctioning off advertising space on his head, which was bald from chemo. A company bid $5100 for bone marrow donation support in an eBay auction for the right to put its web address on his head for a few months.

I don't do politics on the blog, but in light of the new President's speech asking us to not sit around and wait for someone else to make a change, I thought Pat's story was the best thing I could offer today.

One seriously amazing kid.