Special blood drive planned to help Boardman woman

Staff report

BOARDMAN

A special blood drive is planned to replenish the local supply and help a 19-year-old township woman who has cancer.

The Central Blood Bank will have the “Hannah Walton Bone Marrow Screening and Replenishment Blood Drive” from 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Boardman Township Government Center, 8299 Market St.

Walton, the daughter of Missy and Micah Walton of Boardman, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia shortly after she graduated from Boardman High School. She has been receiving chemotherapy and blood transfusions at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

She will continue to receive treatment and might become a candidate for a bone-marrow transplant.

During Tuesday’s event, donors can give blood and have the option of joining “Be The Match,” a national registry for bone marrow donors.

The blood drive will be run by Central Blood Bank, a nonprofit organization that supplies blood products and transfusion-related services to about 40 hospitals in western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio.

To make an appointment to donate, call 866-366-6771, or go online to CentralBloodBank.org, click “Donate Blood” at the top of the page, then scroll down the page and click “Sponsor Code” and enter the sponsor code ZRTN0963.

Donors must be at least 17 and bring photo identification with them.