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From May 16-21, Kentucky Blood Center is encouraging Kentuckians to visit their local KBC donor center and donate in honor of Knox Shepherd, a 3-year-old boy from Louisville, Kentucky, who is battling an anaplastic ependymoma, a rare tumor that forms when cells in the central nervous system begin to multiply rapidly.

Until just recently, Knox and his family were living in Memphis, Tennessee, since December 2021 to undergo 30 rounds of proton radiation treatment and chemotherapy to treat the brain cancer after undergoing emergency surgery right after Thanksgiving to remove his tumor.

Knox, who has AB+ blood (which means he can receive blood from donors of any type), has received two blood transfusions so far to recover from the grueling chemotherapy treatments and could need more. The Shepherds feel like encouraging others to donate blood is the least they can do to give back for all the help and support they have received.

“Everyone is asking what they can do to help, I just kept thinking if he couldn’t receive any type of blood, what I would do,” Ashley says. “I just want to encourage more people to donate.”

To schedule a donation at one of the two Louisville donor centers for Super Donor Week, you can make an appointment at the Middletown Donor Center here or the Hillview Donor Center here, or call 800.775.2522. Appointments are preferred. Walk-ins are welcome.