Marrow Donor Sought To Save Young Father's Life

CHEVIOT HILLS (CBSLA.com) — It's a lot for any parent to keep up with three kids under 3 years old. But for Adam Krief, every day is a struggle.

"Adam might look healthy to the naked eye. But if I show you a picture from a couple of years back, you're looking at a different person," said his wife of six years, Lia.

On July 1, the 31-year-old was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer called primary myelofibrosis. He is on chemotherapy, but it won't save his life.

"It's really just to keep his numbers low to buy us time so that we can find him a donor because the only cure at this time is a transplant, a bone-marrow transplant," Lia explained.

There are more than 13 million people on the bone-marrow-donor registry, but none of them is a match for Adam.

So, the couple created the Hope 4 Adam campaign and released a video on social media to urge people to register as a donor.

In just 10 days, they registered more than 3,000 people.

"Just from the love and support that we've seen in the past two or three weeks, it really fuels me everyday," Adam said.

The Kriefs said most of their friends and family were intimidated by the process of donating. But for about 80 percent of donors, the nonsurgical procedure is relatively easy and pain-free.

"You pretty much give blood. It's a specialized blood donation for me," Adam added.

While the goal is to save Adam, the couple hopes their drive for donors will have a much greater impact.

"Just doing that, you are increasing the chances of somebody getting to see their children grow. And that for us is everything."

Being a donor is easy. Go to bethematch.org and sign up. You will receive a packet that includes a swab to rub the inside of your mouth.

Then you mail back your saliva sample in an envelope with prepaid postage.

Blood cancer kills more children in the United States than any other disease and is the second leading cause of all cancer deaths in the country, according to bethematch.org.