NORFOLK, Va., (WVEC) -- The past few years has not been easy for one Chesapeake little boy. When Aaron Barton was 5, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
With the help of a bone marrow transplant, he's now a happy, healthy kid.
Aaron and his mom Tammy Jo Bullis-Barton, went to Duke University Hospital for the procedure, specifically the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.
"Aaron was a six out of six match with three different donors from their bank," said Bullis-Barton.
But it's not that way for a lot of people, it can take some time to find a genetic match. People of European descent have a 77 percent chance of finding a match on the Be the Match Registry.
It's a national nonprofit that collects donor DNA and matches it with patients.
If you are African American and you need a bone marrow transplant you have about a 25 percent chance of finding a match.
Dan Gariepy with Be the Match said people can donate stem cells, cord blood or bone marrow. He said it's a simple and easy process.
You sign up, swab your mouth and wait for the call. Doctors then make sure you're healthy enough to donate.
"About 75 percent of the time people will donate their stem cell which is basically like a plasma or platelet donation and only a select few will donate their bone marrow," said Gariepy.
Donors said it's not extremely painful and for all of the procedures your body regenerates what was removed.
"They're heroes to us. If I could, I would give them the biggest hug that I could and just thank them for the life that they gave him," said Bullis-Barton.