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Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009

Perry teen requests blood, bone marrow drive for birthday

Kody Lucas is going to be turning 17, and he wants a gift from you.

The gift of life.

The Perry High School upcoming junior requested that for his birthday, a blood drive and bone marrow registry be held.

If you are thinking this is not a typical birthday party for a teenager, you are right. But then, Kody is not a typical teen.

Kody was diagnosed in 2007 with anaplastic astrocytoma — a brain tumor. He has undergone surgery that removed part of the tumor, chemotherapy and radiation at St. Jude’s Children Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

But being sick isn’t what makes Kody atypical.

“He has always been a little older than his years,’’ said his mom, Donna Moss. “He is very generous, very giving. If somebody gives him $20, he is going to spend it, but he is going to spend it on somebody else.”

Moss said that Kody’s naturally generous spirit had only been escalated by what he had witnessed during his own illness.

“He has seen the devastation that cancer has had on other families, and it has really affected his outlook from day to day,” she said

Kody plays saxophone in the Perry High band, and through the Make-A-Wish Foundation was presented with a new Cannonball alto-sax two years ago.

“Being in the band is really, really fun to me,’’ Kody said. “and my sax is the greatest. I had always heard about that brand of sax and knew that was what I wanted.”

Kody’s sax was handmade and is engraved, with semiprecious stones adorning it.

Kody returns to St. Jude’s every three months for a round of testing but is hoping that soon his trips will be reduced to twice a year.

His idea for his birthday party was inspired by the blood that he has received — at least 10 transfusions since he was originally diagnosed.

“All I want to do is to help as many people as I can that are going through what I am,’’ Kody said.

For anyone that doesn’t want to or can’t give blood, toys will also be collected that day for St. Jude’s.

For Elle Williams, a Make-A-Wish volunteer and one of the organizers of Kody’s party, Kody’s idea — and Kody— are both remarkable.

“In his initial prognosis, doctors said that only 20 percent of patients survive two years. They didn’t think this day would come for Kody,” she said.

But Kody always did, Williams added.

“He plans on graduating, growing up, living a normal life. He takes college prep classes to prepare for going to college. He lives life now like everything is fine,” she said.

Williams helped Kody raise the funds necessary to cover all the registration fees for the bone marrow registry, and has also worked hard to make sure this is a “real” birthday celebration for Kody. Mix 100.9 will be broadcasting live from the party, and volunteers from local fire departments will be on hand performing as clowns and painting faces.

While Kody has signed up 200 blood donors, the goal is for twice that many. The party will have hamburgers, hot dogs and birthday cake for 500 participants.

T-shirts designed by Kody will be on sale. On the back are 40 names of other children that Kody has met who are also fighting cancer.

The public is invited to Kody Lucas’ birthday party Saturday from 1130 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at The Refuge Church, located at 100 Todd Road in Perry.

An extensive list of toys that are needed at St. Jude Children’s Hospital is located on its Web site, www.stjude.org

Contact Alline Kent at allinekent@cox.net or at 396-2467.