In 2016, Nicholas McClary, Andrew’s teenage youngest son was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. Nicholas fought bravely for 3 years, and at a point was even considered cancer free and had applied and was accepted to college to study engineering like his older brother. But because he was unable to find a perfect match for a bone marrow transplant that he received, a year after the procedure his body began having complications called GVHD, or Graft Vs Host Disease which is caused when the recipient was not able to get a perfect match. Nicholas passed away in November of 2018.
There are over 7 thousand people actively looking for a bone marrow transplant at any one time in the United States alone, almost half of them children. Despite these numbers, only 3% of the population is even registered to search from. The Caring Like Nicholas Foundation was setup by the McClary family to be a sounding board for those children like Nicholas who are searching for a bone marrow match. As part of this mission the Andrew McClary produces educational videos to let people know of the need to be a part of a bone marrow registry.
See CaringLikeNicholas.org for more details.
