#HopeForG - an Aplastic Anemia Fundraiser

About Guillermo

Guillermo is a young husband and father to two adorable boys, Oscar (almost 3 years), and Henry (8 months). Originally from Michigan, Guillermo grew up wanting to be an Illustrator. He went to school at Indiana Wesleyan, where he studied Graphic Art & Illustration. He met his wife, a fellow art student who was pursuing a business degree. They married after college and moved to Chicago. Guillermo has done graphic design and art direction for many years, and last year joined Lextech's Marketing team.

His Diagnosis - Severe Aplastic Anemia

Diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia, a rare but very serious form of anemia, just one month after his youngest son was born last fall, Guillermo Galván now needs a critical bone marrow transplant. There is no match within his own family. Finding a match outside his family has also proven difficult due to his Latino heritage and the lack of diversity on the bone marrow registry. Up to 40% of Latinos do not find a bone marrow match.

What Life Is Like Now

Until Guillermo finds a match, Guillermo is on a difficult medical protocol. After four rounds of chemo, he is currently recovering from a grueling regimen of medications, blood transfusions, and frequent tests. Other than clinic trips, he was not allowed to have any contact with the public, and visits from non-family members were strictly limited. Recently he's shown signs of great improvement on a new drug, and will soon be able to return to work and public life. Although his health has improved from a dire state, he's still in need of a bone marrow transplant and needs close medical monitoring. Guillermo looks forward to going back to work full time and is optimistic about his long term prognosis.

The Hardest Part

Going from a perfectly heathy young man to being hospitalized in the ICU with weakened immune state was painful and difficult. Chemo and constant blood transfusions has been exhausting and trying. But Guillermo has said the hardest part is having to struggle emotionally and spiritually with his illness while his wife went back to work soon after having Henry to support the family amidst all of the doctor's visits and intensive home care.

How You Can Help

We're sure you can imagine the financial burden this frequency of medical care would put on a family, especially one with such young children. Lextech would like to join his circle of support and asks for you to help as well. Lextech will match funds raised up to $5,000.

Register to Become a Donor

If you want to do more than give to the matching fund, you can also contact Delete Blood Cancer (deletebloodcancer.org) to register to become a bone marrow donor to increase the chances that Guillermo finds a match and gets his life-saving transplant.

Other Resources

• On Aplastic Anemia
• On donating blood, platelets, or blood marrow