Members of the Winona community gave blood on Tuesday to help save the life of Krew Fletcher Polston.
Mississippi Blood Services hosted the blood drive in the parking lot of Hub Fitness for Krew from noon to 4 p.m.
According to Krew Polston’s social media group page, which is administered by his mother, Tara Polston, Krew is a two-year-old who was first diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia cancer at seven months old in October 2020. He “was then transported to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”
An article on WebMD by Stephanie Watson,states that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is “the most common type of cancer in children. It affects certain cells in the immune system, called B cells and T cells.”
Watson’s article states that “B cell ALL makes child[ren] more likely to get infection, because they don’t have the protection of B cells.” The illness starts in the bone marrow and grows quickly, according to Watson, and the “bone marrow has trouble making enough normal cells.”
He relapsed in 2021 and finished treatment in October 2022. He relapsed again on Dec. 3, 2022, according to Krew Polston’s social media page.
“Mississippi Blood Services contacted me. They did a blood drive two years ago when Krew was first diagnosed,” Tara Polston said in an interview. “They reached out to me after he relapsed in December and wanted to set another one up.”
“27 people signed up,” Tara Polston said.
She said in a post on a social media platform, “I want to thank everyone that donated blood [on Tuesday]. Thank you so much for doing this for my baby! Thank all of you for the continued prayers for Krew and our family.”
Krew Polston is currently undergoing “spinal tap[s] with chemo,” according to the social media group page.
