8-year-old diagnosed with a rare form of cancer to host ‘Swab Drive' in search of life saving donor

A Fort Worth family is taking it day by day after doctors recently diagnosed their 8-year-old son with a rare form of cancer. Now they're asking North Texans to help as they search for a bone marrow match.

Sarah and Zac Morford have a son and daughter and have spent much of their elementary lives attending soccer games, birthday parties and school activities for their kids.

"George is a typical eight-year-old boy who loves nature, loves to go outside, enjoys his small group of friends, his soccer team, walking to school every day with his sister, and loves family nights at home," said Sarah Morford about their 8-year-old son.

As she and her husband flip through photo albums looking at the memories of their kid's young lives, they can't help but reflect on the amount of energy their son has always had. But recently, something changed.

"Two months ago, I had a gut feeling that something was really wrong with George. He had not been feeling well for a couple months and I had noticed bruises all over his body," explained Morford.

After a trip to the emergency room, the family would quickly learn why their son wasn't feeling his best.

"Within an hour later, they had told me that he had Leukemia," said George's mother. "He started chemotherapy the same day that he went into the emergency room at Cook Children's, by that night, he was already receiving the treatments that he needed."

He was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML, which is a rare and aggressive form of the disease.

"Since then, he's been essentially living on the fifth floor at Cook Children's. He receives treatment every day, and then when his treatments are over, the hospital keeps him safe from all the germs because he has really no immune system," explained Morford.

"There are days when it feels like we have gotten a minor in leukemia. Rare is the day where we're not learning something new about either the disease, the cures, symptoms. But we've also learned that we have a lot of friends who are there for us," expressed Zac Morford, George's dad.

He said they're appreciative of not only family and friends, but George's classmates who send him video updates weekly for him to watch at the hospital.

"His days are hard, our job is to try to make them a little easier," cried Sarah.

The couple is now leaning on neighbors and strangers near and far to try and help their son. They're hosting a stem cell 'Fort Worth Swab Drive' through a non-profit called whose mission is to defeat blood cancer through finding donors.

"70% of patients don't have a match in their family and have to rely on strangers, and there aren't enough people in the bank when you're searching and those 70% of patients are looking to find someone," explained Zac. "Matches are rare because you need a very close genetic match, and so, the more people that are there, the better the odds that we'll find a match for George, and for all the other patients who are looking for donors for stem cells."

"If you are healthy between 18 and 55 years old, you can spend five or six minutes of your day and you can potentially save a life, which I just know as a mother, I would do that for any other mother," expressed Sarah.

The Fort Worth Swab Drive will take place on Saturday, May 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.There will be music, a taco truck and Kendra Scott giveaway.

• Saturday, May 3
• From 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
• University Baptist Church, 2720 Wabash Avenue, Fort Worth
• People ages 18 - 55 who are in good health are eligible to donate
• The process takes less than 10 minutes

"It's been a really hard road, and we're kind of riding the roller coaster and just helping him through day by day," said Sarah.