Williamson Memorial Hospital (WMH) will be partnering with “Be The Match” to host a donor drive this coming Wednesday for patients who have been diagnosed with blood caner or diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or sickle cell anemia.

WMH Marketing Director Shelby Porter said the drive was planned in honor of C.J. Dingess, a Belfry resident who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia this past February.

Dingess told Mountain Top Media his sister, Jessica Caudill, was a 60 percent match, but his medical team would rather have a 100 percent match.

Porter said matching a donor to a patient is much more complex than matching blood types. Doctors match donors to patients based on their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue type. HLA are proteins, or markers, found on most cells in your body. There are many HLA markers that make each person’s tissue type unique. Certain markers are key to a successful bone marrow or cord blood transplant.

Any donor who is a best match for a patient and go on to donate, will have all medical expenses for the procedure covered by the National Marrow Donor Program.

Porter encourages individuals to consider donating from 1 until 4 p.m. in the hospital’s fourth floor education room.

Individuals may also visit join.bethematch.org/cj for more details.