Young Baseball Coach With Cancer Seeks Marrow Match

<p>A 21-year-old baseball coach at Edmond Santa Fe is suffering from leukemia and the school held a blood and marrow drive to help out.</p>

Tuesday, May 9th 2017, 7:24 pm

By: News 9


A young man named Tanner Huddleston has a great love for baseball and his alma mater. He was an athlete in high school at Edmond Santa Fe High and is now a volunteer assistant coach for the freshman baseball team.

Recently, Tanner has had to take a break from college and work to focus on his health.

Over two weeks ago at a tournament, Tanner got a call from his doctor. The cancer is back. Tanner has acute myeloid leukemia.

“I didn’t want to leave the field that day,” he said. Tanner was sitting with Head Coach Ryan Phillips when it happened. “Did you say it’s back? And I said yea, so I had a real break down moment with him.”

Coach Phillips said, “I can’t imagine the feeling you get when you beat it, and then it comes back.”

Tanner is only 21 years old, and battling cancer for the second time.

“I beat it once, and I know that I can do it again,” Tanner said. And he is fighting the disease with the support of the community.

On Tuesday, a blood and marrow drive was set up at Edmond Santa Fe High School in Tanner’s name. All day, people were donating blood and swabbing their gums to see if they’re a marrow match for Tanner.

“Without a bone marrow match, I haven’t seen the numbers, but I know they’re not going to be great,” said Tanner. “It definitely has the potential to save my life, let me see past my 20's.”

If you missed the drive, it’s not too late to help. To see if you’re a marrow match, you can visit Be A Match. http://join.bethematch.org/obi and use the promotion code “BASEBALL”.

Blood can also be donated to the Oklahoma Blood Institute, where donations can be credited to Tanner Huddleston.  

A GoFundMe page has also been set up for Tanner. http://gofundme.com/TannersFight

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