Ahead of Saturday's match against Orange County, the Switchbacks joined forces with Orange County Soccer Club to help find a bone marrow donor for 5-month-old Bruno Lara, who was recently diagnosed with an extremely rare immunodeficiency disease, HLH.
Switchbacks players and technical staff participate in testing following training Friday night, joining Orange County SC and their PDL teams, in search of a match for Bruno.
Lara, whose family are season ticket holders, needs chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant to treat this life-threatening condition but does not have a match and is racing against the clock to find one. On April 10th, Bruno and his parents traveled to Italy to start his treatment and prepare him for his transplant. Only a handful of hospitals in the world are capable and successful in the treatment of this rare and complex disease. Because Bruno’s insurance has denied coverage for the treatment of HLH, the estimated cost of the treatment is over $700,000 USD. The family has started a GO FUND ME account to help offset the costs the family faces.
Bruno’s parents Jane and Juan expressed their gratitude in a recent post to the thousands of people who are now joining the cause. “We would like to thank each and every one of you for your support through this journey. We still have a long journey ahead filled with difficult tests and a lot of unknowns. Yes we are scared and it is heartbreaking for us to see Bruno going through this but, we have no doubt that he will continue to fight and will overcome this battle with everyone’s support. Bruno is a WARRIOR full of light that came to change our life, our hearts are full of hope, faith and strength, and we are sure that we will achieve our objective.”
Ahead of Saturday’s match against Orange County, the Switchbacks joined forces with Orange County Soccer Club to help find a bone marrow donor for 5-month-old Bruno Lara, who was recently diagnosed with an extremely rare immunodeficiency disease, HLH.
Switchbacks players and technical staff participate in testing following training Friday night, joining Orange County SC and their PDL teams, in search of a match for Bruno.
Lara, whose family are season ticket holders, needs chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant to treat this life-threatening condition but does not have a match and is racing against the clock to find one. On April 10th, Bruno and his parents traveled to Italy to start his treatment and prepare him for his transplant. Only a handful of hospitals in the world are capable and successful in the treatment of this rare and complex disease. Because Bruno’s insurance has denied coverage for the treatment of HLH, the estimated cost of the treatment is over $700,000 USD. The family has started a GO FUND ME account to help offset the costs the family faces.
Bruno’s parents Jane and Juan expressed their gratitude in a recent post to the thousands of people who are now joining the cause. “We would like to thank each and every one of you for your support through this journey. We still have a long journey ahead filled with difficult tests and a lot of unknowns. Yes we are scared and it is heartbreaking for us to see Bruno going through this but, we have no doubt that he will continue to fight and will overcome this battle with everyone’s support. Bruno is a WARRIOR full of light that came to change our life, our hearts are full of hope, faith and strength, and we are sure that we will achieve our objective.”
