Walk on Saturday to Help Fourth-Grader Fight Luekemia

Best friends since second grade, Natalee Huber, 9, and Rachel Reynolds, 10, share the bond of girlhood and now they are also sharing in a fight to help cure leukemia, particularly the PH chromosome version.

Both fourth-graders at Chesapeake Academy, Rachel was diagnosed in February with a form of childhood leukemia that includes the Philadelphia chromosome (known as "PH"chromosome), which rarely strikes children.

Although only 10-years-old, Rachel is involved in an experimental drug study but because of the small percentage of children that have the condition, drug companies haven't focused on finding an effective medicine to treat the younger population.

Rachel's parents, Scott and Christine Reynolds, are diligent about making sure her life stays normal as she goes through the second round of three chemotherapy treatments. The couple also want to get the PH chromosome studied in kids.

With that in mind, Natalee and her family organized a walk on Saturday to help raise money for research. The walk is from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. with registration behind the , located on Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard and along the B&A Trail in Severna Park. The walk will be from there to Jones Station Road and back.

The walk is sponsored by Dr. Diane Lebedeff, a foot doctor and Rachel and Natalee's Girl Scout Troop leader.

Registration is $10 for adults to walk and $5 for students. All money collected will go to "Be the Match," a National Foundation for bone marrow donor matching who will have representatives at the walk to swab people for a possible match and enter them into the data base.

An interesting twist is that Rachel attended all of Natalee's birthday parties, which were, as of two years ago, setup to donate to childhood cancers. Then, Natalee learned that her best friend had the disease.

To host a Be the Match Donor Drive, the host must pledge to raise $100 per expected donor, said Suzanne Huber, Natalee's mother. This fundraising defrays the cost of adding a new donor to the bank. 

So far, they've raised $6,500 of their $10,000 goal through online donations. "We are really tickled with our success on that, it's only been about two weeks," Huber said.

"Rachel is currently doing exceptionally well and will be at the registration table," Huber said.

"The Severna Park business community has rallied with gift cards and baskets for a the raffle. "We've had a ton of support from local businesses," Huber said.

Franklin's Toys, Image Creators, Dawson's Liquors, Ledo's Pizza, Adam's Ribs and the Big Bean have all contributed something to the cause, she said.

Those who can't attend the walk but would like to contribute to Team Rachel's Pledge can do so before and after the walk online and  Natalee has a website that tracks Team Rachel's events and progress.

To donate, visit the Team Rachel page at Be the Match. All donations are 100 percent tax deductible.

Call Suzanne Huber at 410-370-8007 for more information.