The community of Cheney showed massive support for seven year old leukemia patient London by arriving in droves to register for the bone marrow donor registry.

According to a press release from the Cheney Fire Department, “more than 700 people between 18 and 44 came in to take a simple cheek swab sample to get on the registry.”

Of those 700, some 300 of them were Eastern Washington University students taking anatomy and physiology classes.

“It started when one of my TA’s – a volunteer firefighter – asked me to announce the event,” said EWU professor Bradley Filmore. “I said let’s not just announce it, let’s give some extra credit for it.”

“I’m really glad to have done it,” Filmore said.

A potential donor for London was found a few days before the event, but roughly 12,000 people are still in need of donors.

Bethematch.com, an online community that assists with finding donors for patients in need of transplants says “seventy percent of all patients who need a transplant don’t have a matched donor in their family. A patient’s likelihood of finding a matching donor on the Be The Match Registry is estimated to range from 66-93%, depending on race and ethnicity.”

Ken Johnson, one of the Firefighters said, “The event was so much fun, the Cheney Firefighters are thinking about making this an annual event.”