College pitcher sacrifices senior season to help child
Apr 3, 2015, 6:00 PM | Updated: 6:01 pm
As a senior pitcher for the University of South Carolina Beaufort, Jason Boulais was looking forward to helping his team reach the postseason.
There’s a chance that will not happen, and it’s for the best of reasons.
As reported by UCSBathletics.com, Boulais turned out to be a bone marrow match for a French boy he does not know.
“I was happy to be able to potentially help somebody out, save someone’s life,” Boulais said. “It’s a blessing to have something I can be proud to do. I’m going to miss a few games because of it, but for someone to be able to potentially keep living is a lot more important.”
According to Be The Match, 70 percent of patients needing bone marrow or cord blood transplants do not have a potential donor in their family, so they depend on the Be The Match Registry to find a donor. It’s possible Boulais is a distant relative to the patient, who lives in France, where Boulais’ family bloodlines originate.
Boulais was not sure how his coach, Bryan Lewallyn, would take the news that he may miss the entire season, but quickly learned that not only was he OK with it, but excited to help in any way he could.
“I remember the day he told me,” Lewallyn said. “I was like, ‘If you need me to drive you somewhere, just tell me where. Absolutely. You do whatever it is you need to do and you’ll have our full support, 100 percent.’ A lot of times with younger guys, you don’t really think outside of yourself. When you’re 18, the world is only as big as your little bubble. The fact that he took it upon himself to volunteer and get tested is huge.”
Boulais is set to undergo the procedure in April. He will likely experience back and hip pain as well as fatigue after the procedure, and the average recovery time is 20 days.
