Former El Paso family’s 4-year-old son needs a life-saving donor

DALLAS, Texas - Dak Lopez, who loves all things dinosaurs, turtles, and water-related, is battling an aggressive form of leukemia. He is only 4-years-old, yet needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life.

The catch is, Dak needs a Hispanic donor- someone who has a similar ancestry! On top of that, according to Lopez- 69% of bone marrow donors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are white, so the Lopezs are reaching out to one of the largest Hispanic populations in Texas to get a matching bone marrow donor. They are also looking for a donor who is somewhere between 18 and 55 years old.

Adam Lopez, Dak's father shared how he first felt once he heard his son's diagnosis:

"It was the toughest thing I had to deal with in my entire life. It was the toughest, and saddest thing that I have ever heard."

Because of Dak's genotype, the type of leukemia he has is considered an aggressive one- "so this is the reason why we need a bone marrow transplant...we need one because that's the only possible way for him to be cured," Lopez shared.

While Dak's health is at the top of his list, Lopez told ABC-7 he doesn't only want to help his own son, but other families who may be having difficulty securing a donor due to being a minority too:

"We are also praying and hoping that through Dak, we can also help other kids, and other families, other people who are in need of a donor."

The Lopez family is originally from El Paso, but his dad, Adam, and his mom, Ryan, moved from El Paso to Dallas just three years ago. On May 22, the Lopez's will be holding an event in Dallas, Texas, to see if they can find a match for Dak. It takes a simple saliva swab test, which is sent to the laboratory to be tested for a match. If no donors are found there- then on June 18, Yvonne Lopez, a close relative to Dak and Adam, will be holding a saliva testing event here in El Paso at the County Coliseum, to find the donor Dak needs.

Of course, time is of the essence. The sooner Dak can get a bone marrow donor, the sooner the 4-year-old can get on his path to recovery. If you want to see if you are a match before the local event happening next month, you can do that too! To contact the family, email daklopez04@gmail.com to get a saliva test done, and sent to the lab to see if you are a match.

The Lopez family told ABC-7 directly just how grateful they are to anyone who would consider donating to their son.

Finally, for those who are not familiar with the bone marrow transplant process, you can click here to find out just what it takes. DKMS is the registry the Lopez family is using to find the match for Dak.

There are two types of donation processes: one is the PBSC donation which is non-surgical, and the other is bone marrow donation which is a surgical process. The latter involves taking bone marrow from the pelvis bone, with a recovery time of 1-7 days. The doctor informs which process is needed depending on the patient. Doing a test means you can potentially be a match for not only Dak, but 1,000s of other patients needing transplants as well.