“In my opinion, donating blood is a simple way that you can help someone. My goal is to remind people how important it is. It saved our son.”
Rutgers University Heroes Blood Drive on October 7
(New Brunswick, NJ) - Harrison Chung is a typical six-year-old who loves all things dinosaurs – especially the Jurassic Park series. But there’s nothing typical about the battle he faced and the courage he showed when he was diagnosed with leukemia as a three-year-old in 2022.
Harrison’s mother, Erin, first noticed something was wrong when she saw bruising on Harrison’s lower legs.
“It was winter, he was in daycare and wasn’t outside playing as much,” Erin recalled. “It was strange for him to have these bruises and they wouldn’t go away.”
Erin took a day off work and made an appointment with her pediatrician, who examined Harrison and ran a series of blood tests. The doctor’s office called immediately the next morning after the results arrived.
“As a parent, your intuition kicks in. I knew something was wrong. They called first thing Saturday morning and told us to go to the hospital right away,” Erin said. “We went to the pediatric emergency room and were told that he would need to be admitted and have to stay for a month.”
The Chungs rushed to the Pediatric Emergency Department at The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital (BMSCH) at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. There, they met with Richard Drachtman, MD, pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute/Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center and Professor of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Drachtman delivered the news that no parent wants to hear: their child had leukemia.
In 24 hours, Erin and her family went from having plans to bring Harrison to a birthday party that Saturday afternoon to him being admitted to BMSCH for a month. Despite the serious nature of Harrison’s diagnosis, Dr. Drachtman offered the Chungs hope.
“Dr. Drachtman told us, ‘He is sick, but we’re going to fix this. He is going to be okay – we have a plan for him,’” Erin recalled.
Dr. Drachtman went on to tell Erin and her husband that his team had a specific plan to treat this type of leukemia (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) diagnosed in boys Harrison’s age.
In addition to needing chemotherapy and undergoing constant blood tests. Harrison required a series of spinal tap procedures so doctors could be certain that the diseased cells had not migrated to his brain. Harrison also needed several blood and platelet transfusions while he was hospitalized to boost his blood cell counts.
Harrison was at BMSCH for almost four weeks before returning home. For two-and-half years, he received chemotherapy treatments at home administered by a visiting nurse. Every three-to-four weeks he would return to the hospital for monitoring.
He completed his final chemotherapy treatment in April 2024 and is back in school this fall. Harrison still returns to Rutgers Cancer Institute for blood tests every two-to-three months. If all goes well, he will need the tests every six months and eventually, once each year for the rest of his life.
Now, Harrison has devoted his attention to getting back in the groove at school and, you guessed it, his massive dinosaur collection. It’s fitting that Harrison loves dinosaurs so much since they symbolize strength, which is something that he demonstrated well beyond his years during his battle against leukemia.
“His whole playroom is covered in dinosaurs,” Erin joked. “He loves the whole Jurassic Park series. It helped that Dr. Drachtman was a big dinosaur fan too. The amazing nurses at Rutgers Cancer Institute also would set aside dinosaur toys for Harrison to play with during his treatments. It helped greatly with the blood draws and his overall comfort during these tough appointments.”
Erin is grateful for the strong support she received from her family and community during Harrison’s hospitalization and treatments. She is both a resident and teacher in Hillsborough. Her and her husband’s family also live close by and were there to help. Her fellow teachers rallied around the family, designing t-shirts that featured a dinosaur image with the tagline, “Let’s Make Leukemia Extinct” to show their support for Harrison. To this day, the shirts are widely seen around Hillsborough.
Recognizing the critical role that blood transfusions played in Harrison’s treatment and recovery, her parents’ neighbors launched a community blood drive to support the Chungs. Erin now takes the lead in organizing the annual drive which has completed its third year.
“We have made it our mission to keep it going,” Erin said. “In my opinion, donating blood is a simple way that you can help someone. My goal is to remind people how important it is. It saved our son.”
Erin added, “You never know when you or a family member is going to need it. You want it to be available for you and your family. It’s important that people know how much of a need there is (for blood donation) and all the opportunities there are to donate.”
How You Can Help: Donate Blood at the Heroes Blood Drive on October 7
The Chung family is encouraging anyone who is eligible to support the Heroes Blood Drive on Tuesday, October 7 from 12 noon – 6 p.m. at the Rodkin Academic Success Center, 201 Fitch Road, on the Rutgers Busch Campus in Piscataway. Appointments for the October 7 blood drive are strongly encouraged and available at www.rwjuhdonorclub.org. You can also register for this blood drive or several others in our local area, by visiting www.BigTen.org/Abbott. Click on the “Rutgers” icon and make your appointment to save a life.
A photo ID is required. Please eat and drink prior to your appointment. All donors ages 17 and older must weigh a minimum of 110 lbs. and have not donated blood within the past 56 days. 16- year-old donors can give with parental consent and a minimum weight of 120 lbs. Contact the blood center for a consent form.
Abbott is partnering with the Big Ten Conference and its 18-member university athletic departments, including Rutgers Athletics to boost the U.S. blood supply through the We Give Blood donation competition. RWJBarnabas Health and New York Blood Center are supporting the Heroes Blood Drive on October 7. The We Give Blood initiative puts rivalry and school spirit to the test as all of the schools compete to see who can donate the most blood, positively impacting lives across the country.
"The We Give Blood" initiative is designed to motivate Big Ten students, alumni and fans to donate blood by tapping into school pride and devotion to their teams. Anyone can give as part of the initiative at any blood center or blood drive nationwide between Aug. 27 – Dec. 5. Donations can be logged and counted towards a Big Ten school at bigten.org/abbott.
The winner of the “We Give Blood” drive will be announced at the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 6 in Indianapolis. The winning school will receive $1 million from Abbott to advance student or community health. Donations will be tracked on a live leaderboard at BigTen.Org/Abbott throughout the campaign.