Teen asks for gift of blood for birthday

Instead of video games or a new car, soon-to-be 19-year-old Kody Lucas is asking for blood donations for his birthday.

Donors are invited to his Birthday Blood Drive on Saturday at Perry’s Rozar Park from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event has taken place since 2009, two years after Lucas was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma, a type of brain tumor, after suffering from headaches, nausea, and blurry and double vision. Doctors said he would have a 20 percent chance of surviving the cancer two years after the diagnosis.

When he met the milestone, he wanted to celebrate by giving back to the community, according to family friend Ellie Williams.

“He hit the magic number he wasn’t ever supposed to see,” Williams said. “He started doing the blood drive and wanted to give back.”

So far, Lucas has made it four years since his diagnosis.

“When I was in the hospital, I began to realize how much it meant to receive blood. I realized how much it helped,” said Lucas, who will be 19 on July 29. “I wanted to help as many people as I could with the resources that I had.”

However, in early May, doctors found that Lucas’s cancer had relapsed, with a new tumor growth on the frontal lobe of his brain.

Lucas is now undergoing low-dose chemotherapy, which is expected to slow the tumor growth. The treatment won’t stop it though, and Lucas has been given up to six more months to live.

Even so, Lucas said he is not dwelling on that time frame too much, and instead he has been spending time with family and friends since graduating from Perry High School in May.

“They’ve been wrong many times before,” he said. “I don’t put too much stock in it.”

In the first year of the birthday blood drive, guests donated 82 units of blood, and last year they donated 85 units. This year, Williams said she hopes to see 200 units of blood donated, or 24 gallons of blood.

In addition to the blood drive and a bone marrow registry, Saturday’s event will feature food and children’s entertainment, as well as representatives from the Joanna McAfee Childhood Cancer Foundation, Jay’s Hope, Joshua’s Wish and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where Lucas has received treatment. The event is sponsored by the Perry Exchange Club, and representatives from the American Red Cross will handle the blood donations.

In making it family-friendly, Lucas said he hopes it’ll encourage children to donate blood when they get older.

Williams said she plans to help organize the event every year and hopes it will become a well-known community event.

“We want to get the whole community involved,” she said. “I want them to think of the birthday party blood drive in July just like they think when the (Georgia National Fair) comes and the Dogwood Festival happens.”

With blood donations helping him live longer than doctors predicted, Lucas said the event is his way of expressing his gratitude.

“To me, there’s no better gift than giving someone a second shot at life,” Lucas said.

To contact writer Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.

This story was originally published July 14, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Teen asks for gift of blood for birthday."