(File photo/Ben Tompkins, northeastNOW staff)

By Ben Tompkins

Archer Franklin

Tisdale supporting local teen with stem cell drive

Aug 16, 2023 | 12:06 PM

This Friday (Aug. 18), the Town of Tisdale will be supporting Archer Franklin with a stem cell drive.

Franklin is a 17-year-old from Kelvington who is heading into grade 12 this year and played for the Humboldt U18 AA Broncos last winter.

He was diagnosed with Aplastic anemia in June and it has since destroyed his bone marrow, causing him to require a stem cell transplant.

“When you see a young kid like that struggling on a day-to-day basis, and he’s going on three months now in the hospital, with transfusions and CT scans and everything, you just try and do what you can do to support,” said Franklin’s uncle, Regan Martens. “One of the things that he needs is stem cells and it only takes one and we’re just trying to find that one.”

Those between the ages of 17 and 35 years of age are asked to please consider dropping by the RecPlex between 3-7 p.m.

Twist on a classic

Regina board game designer puts new spin on crokinole

15h ago

Spring in Saskatchewan

Calm, dry weather expected across much of Saskatchewan over Easter weekend

15h ago

Tribute projects

Progress on Humboldt Broncos memorial continues eight years after tragic crash

15h ago

It should only take 10-15 minutes to see if you’re a match and if you are a match for Franklin or anyone else it would only be about a four to six hour procedure of giving blood in 90 per cent of the cases.

“I think a lot of the knowledge out there is I’d love to help them out, but it kind of sounds scary to donate,” Martens added. “It’s only some rare cases where you may feel like you have the flu for one to two days… and the needle in the hip thing will just make you feel like you fell on the ice and have a bad bruise for a couple of days. If that’s what’s scaring folks off, hopefully, you can overcome a bad bruise for a couple of days for a good cause.”

This stem cell drive isn’t the first one to happen, as a get-swabbed event happened in Humboldt this past weekend, and another happened in Kelvington back in July.

Martens explained they wanted to create one in Tisdale as well, as it spreads out the events through the northeast, and that Franklin’s parents both grew up there.

If you would like to help but can’t make it, you can message Martens or his wife Lesley on Facebook and they can set you up with a cheek swap kit, courtesy of Canadian Blood Services.

“Archer is just a 17-year-old kid like anyone else who happened to have the fate of getting something like this at this age,” Martens told northeastNOW. “He’s a kid that’s got dreams and wants to go to school and go on to do all that fun stuff. He plays hockey and he’s got a very bright young mind with computers and technology, and we just want to get him fixed up and out of the hospital.”

–

news@northeastnow.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8