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May 8, 2007

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." --Napolean Hill

11-Year-Old Leukemia Patient's Compassion

Pat Pedraja is a sixth-grader on a mission, and nothing -- not leukemia, not chemotherapy and certainly not a lack of public awareness -- is going to keep him from his goal: adding 2007 new donors to the National Marrow Donor Program Registry and raising $100,000 to pay for their cheek swabs, all by the end of the year. If anybody can accomplish such a task, this 11-year-old with the bubbly personality, entrepreneurial spirit and an iron will burnished by adversity is the one. "What I want is to know that I'm helping people," Pat says, with a disarming smile. He recently launched a 30-city cross-country tour to raise awareness of the need for bone-marrow donors. He's also selling advertising space on his balding head, an idea that has generated national attention for its ingenuity. "Might as well use it for something," he says with aplomb.