Las Vegans asked to participate in marrow testing to help boy, 3

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 10:08 a.m.

Three-year-old Las Vegan Chet Wellborn needs a bone marrow transplant, and his family is asking the community to help.

In order to give him a life-saving transplant, doctors must first find a donor whose bone marrow matches Chet's.

A marrow testing event will be held Friday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel at 5800 W. Carl Ave., near Jones Boulevard and Vegas Drive, from noon to 8:00 p.m.

Wellborn was diagnosed last summer with severe aplastic anemia -- meaning his bone marrow no longer produces blood cells necessary to live.

"We first noticed that something was wrong with him when he started getting a lot of bruises," his grandmother, Pamela Noyes Lorentz, said.

"And then he was getting real lethargic. He used to come running up to me when I came over -- he'd be saying, 'Grandma, grandma, grandma!' But then he started getting more lethargic and he'd be lying on the floor and barely looking at me," Lorentz said.

"He's such a special, beautiful boy," she said. "And he's been going through a lot."

Wellborn has been receiving regular blood and platelet transfusions, which involve inserting a needle into his chest.

"He sits there and looks at the tray of needles and says, 'Owie, owie, owie,' but he goes through with it really bravely," she said.

Wellborn has been registered with the National Bone Marrow Program's Donor Registry, but so far no matches have been found. Although bone marrow testing costs $25 per person, Lorentz said that those who are willing to be tested will not be turned away if they do not have the $25.

Two other Las Vegans who are in need of a bone marrow transplant, Ted Priestly and Justin Beam, will be participating in the event as well. In conjunction with bone marrow testing, there will also be a blood drive at the church on Friday.