You and Houchin can help 'Bubba'
This is a story about the profound struggles of a young family and the generosity of a community. It is a testimonial to the benefits of Kern County having an independent community blood bank.
When a medical crisis strikes, family, friends and neighbors will rally. Houchin Community Blood Bank will be there to make the effort a success.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday, a Houchin medical team will be at the Stockdale Moose Lodge on Stine Road in Bakersfield to sign up people to give blood and register bone marrow donors for Kevin "Bubba" Maxwell. When you hear Maxwell's story, you will want to be there, too.
In April, Bubba and Christal Maxwell will celebrate their first wedding anniversary. In their mid-30s, the couple met at North High School. Christal says she had an eye for Bubba, but he was "stuck on a cheerleader who dumped him after graduation."
Bubba and Christal went their separate ways. Bubba became a truck driver. Christal became a cook and teacher at the state correctional facility in Tehachapi.
But circumstances and a chance re-introduction about four years ago brought the couple back together. By now they had a combination of five children and busy lives. They married and settled into a fixer-upper house in Bakersfield. Bubba was preparing to adopt Christal's youngest daughter. Life was sweet.
Bubba is not a casual nickname for Kevin Maxwell. It's the name his mother gave him. It's the name Christal had to inscribe on their wedding invitations. Likely no one would know who I am writing about if I called him Kevin.
Last September, Bubba had surgery to replace his knee. As he was recovering a month later, he awoke one morning with severe back pain and difficulty breathing. Christal took him to the emergency room, where tests discovered Bubba had cancer.
Bubba, whose cancer has been diagnosed as a particularly deadly form of lymphoblastic leukemia, was admitted in October to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and awaiting a bone marrow transplant, which is expected to be done next month. After the transplant, he will remain hospitalized for 60 to 100 days.
Meanwhile, Bubba is being kept alive on increasing amounts of blood and platelet transfusions.
Bubba is in extreme pain. Medical costs and his inability to work have financially devastated the family, which is in danger of losing its Bakersfield home and cars. Bubba's family and friends take turns shuttling back and forth to Cedars-Sinai. They also are pitching in to help with the children when Christal is away at the hospital.
Bubba's brother is a member of Stockdale Moose Lodge, which is hosting the Feb. 27 blood drive and bone marrow registry. The Houchin blood mobile is supporting the effort, hoping to collect at least 60 units of blood. To help, just show up at either the Moose Lodge on Stine Road or Houchin Blood Bank on Truxtun Extension. Donors who cannot attend the day of the event can go to Houchin's Truxtun site and make a blood donation in the name of Kevin Maxwell.
For nearly 60 years, Houchin has embraced families in need through life-saving blood drives like this. These events are the heart and soul of an independent community blood bank.
Founded to meet local residents' medical needs for blood and blood products, Houchin opened in 1951 with only 10 employees. Metropolitan Bakersfield's population in those days was less than 40,000.
Over the following six decades, metropolitan Bakersfield's population increased to more than 300,000, Kern County's population is about 800,000. Houchin now employs close to 100 people. Medical procedures, such as cancer treatments, have advanced. Kern County has an increasing number of healthcare providers that specialize in advance treatments.
All these expansions -- in population, as well as medical services now available locally -- increase the need for blood and blood components. But no matter how large Bakersfield, Kern County or Houchin grow, what matters is helping one patient at a time, one family at a time. What matters is to be there for Bubba and his family, and others in Kern County who experience a medical crisis.
Greg Gallion is the president and chief executive officer of Houchin Community Blood Bank. He can be contacted via www.hcbb.com or call 323-4222.
