Little Jonah was less than a month old when he was diagnosed with HLH on August 30th of 2007. Jonah’s family in Southern California contacted A3M and other local organizations. David Lee of Christian Herald was the first to host a press conference on September 19th, to help create awareness about the need for marrow donors in the community and to bring much needed attention to Jonah’s story. Drives were organized to register potential donors. A3M was able to recruit many donors who wanted to save Jonah and other patients like him.

Mr. Mak registered at one such drive in Rowland Heights on October 7th 2007 at the Christian Herald office. Just one year later, he received a phone call from A3M. We informed him that he was a potential match for a patient. Mr. Mak was very positive and excited and wanted to know more. The process called for blood work prior to the donation. Mr. Mak gladly obliged, and gave a few vials of blood to be tested. And then nothing happened for almost a year.

In March of 2009 A3M called Mr. Mak again. We were curious to know if he was still committed to the program. The donation was for a 7 -year -old patient and we were hoping that he would say “yes”. Mr. Mak was still committed and went through the confirmatory testing again. He donated his stem cell once he was determined to be a compatible match.