Rochester father Steve Dickes is collaborating with Congress to raise awareness about the significance of transplants, following the loss of his son, William, to leukemia at the age of 15. William was diagnosed with cancer at just 12 years old, and after a few years of standard treatment, Mayo Clinic recommended a bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, the National Registry found a match for William, extending his life before he relapsed and decided to stop treatment. Now, Steve Dickes is advocating for the ‘Life Saving Leave Act’, which would grant 40 non-consecutive hours of unpaid leave from work for donors to undergo the time-consuming process of donating bone marrow, ultimately saving lives like William’s.
Dickes highlights that many potential donors back out due to the lack of time off and job protection for bone marrow donors. To propel this cause, Dickes will join a national fly-in to Congress at the end of the month to communicate with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. His goal is to prompt Democrats and Republicans to increase funding, enabling the recruitment of more young adults into the bone marrow donor registry. For those interested in becoming donors, a link to register is available at https://bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-blood-stem-cells/how-to-join-the-donor-registry/. Through his efforts, Steve Dickes seeks to make the world more donor-friendly and save the lives of children like his son William.
