We had a really great event in Fremont California today!  The fun started last night when the Fremont PD got us tickets to the Oakland A’s vs. Seattle Mariners game.  They arranged for the kids to see batting practice and meet Nick Swisher.  The A’s won and Pat says that every game he goes to, the home team wins so he is like a lucky charm!

 

Today the Fremont Police Chief picked us up at the hotel in the departments vintage 57 Chevy.  What a great ride and the kids loved hearing the old fashioned siren.

 

The drive had a great turnout from the Fremont PD, other local departments and the community.  Starbucks provide coffee and Outback Steakhouse catered lunch.  Everyone really enjoyed that!  Our local sponsors from the law firm of Morrison & Foerster made a trip from San Francisco to meet Pat.  It was a real pleasure to meet them and have them see how their sponsorship is helping us save lives!  Thanks to all the companies who donated time and goods and to Morrison & Foerster for their support!  

 

Officer’s Give Hope and BloodSource helped organize the drive today along with Capt. Rich Lucero from Fremont PD, so everything ran really well.  We added 201 donors to the Registry so we are now at exactly 3000 donors so far!

 

Sometimes we get tired of the time on the road, all the driving, dirty laundry and campgrounds and lose sight of what the drive is all about.  Just when we get to the point of whining about it, we get a reminder of how important this drive is and why we are here.  We learned yesterday that Pat’s friend and fellow leukemia patient has had a 2nd relapse in Tampa.  He is an African American father of 3 who can’t find a matching donor on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.  His mom, Ethel, has spent countless hours organizing drives throughout Florida and is tireless in her efforts to help Joseph and anyone else searching.  Pat is getting a lot of attention with this national drive and people focus on how well he is doing with his Leukemia.  I don’t want everyone to forget about the thousands of people who are out there desperately searching for a person who can save their life.  If most of those kids and adults don’t find a match they may die.  Please ask yourselves what you would do if that was you, your spouse or your child.  Then take action and tell someone else about the need, organize a drive, join the Registry, donate funds for someone who can’t afford it or help out in any way you can.  You may be someone’s last chance!

 

We are off to LA now for our drive with the Sheriff’s department on Monday.  The Today Show is coming there to do some more filming and the plan right now is for Pat to be on the show on July 12th so make sure to watch!!