Bocce match at Fox Chapel serves as event to find bone-marrow match for 7-year-old boy

Tony LaRussa
Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 12:01 a.m. | Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 12:01 a.m.

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Tony LaRussa | Tribune-Review

Shannon Kearney of Aspinwall participated in a Be the Match for Jax event during Fox Chapel High School’s boccie match against Pine-Richland. The swabbing is being taken to find a match for 7-year-old Jackson “Jax” Ramirez, who needs a bone marrow transplant to survive a rare genetic disorder.

Courtesy of Missy Ramirez

Jackson “Jax” Ramirez

Tony LaRussa | Tribune-Review

A player for Pine-Richland High School’s boccie team takes a shot while members from his team and rival Fox Chapel look on during a match at Fox Chapel High School on Feb. 8 . A table was set up outside the gym for people to get swabbed to see if they are a bone marrow match for a 7-year-old boy who needs a transplant.

Tony LaRussa | Tribune-Review

Students at Fox Chapel High School took a cheek swab to see if they are bone marrow match for a boy from Butler County who needs a transplant. The Be the Match event was held during a boccie match between Fox Chapel and Pine-Richland high schools on Feb. 8 .

Tony LaRussa | Tribune-Review

A Pine-Richland High School boccie player lines up her shot during a match against Fox Chapel on Feb. 8 . A table was set up outside the gym for people to get swabbed to see if they are a bone marrow match for a 7-year-old boy who needs a transplant.

Students and spectators at Fox Chapel High School’s home bocce match against Pine-Richland recently joined the effort to find a bone-marrow match for a 7-year-old Butler County boy suffering from a rare genetic disorder.

“I feel like this is a very easy way to help a child in need,” said Shannon Kearney of Aspinwall as she prepared to be swabbed to see if she matches with the boy. “I would hope that others would feel the same if it was my child, or someone in my family, who needed help.

The bocce match was the latest event to find a bone-marrow match for Jackson “Jax” Ramirez of Cranberry, who is the son of Missy Ramirez, a school psychologist in the Pine-Richland School District.

In October, the boy was diagnosed with IPEX, a rare genetic autoimmune disease that requires a bone marrow transplant. Most children with IPEX do not survive past age 2.

Erin Butkovic, the activities director for Fox Chapel, saw the bocce match against Pine-Richland as an opportunity to help find a match for the boy.

“Because of the security process to get into the building, we thought it would be a good idea to do the swabbing during the match after everybody is already in the building,” she said. “It also was easier for some of our seniors who are 18 years old to stop buy and get swabbed before they went home.”

People between the ages of 18 and 40 who want to arrange for a check swab to determine if they are a match can register by texting “JAX” to 61474 or through my.bethematch.org. The swab takes no more than 30 seconds.

Beth Sipe, a special education teacher at the high school, is also trying to help the Ramirez family with the financial impact caused by their son’s diagnosis by setting up a GoFundMe account.

Fox Chapel will be holding another Be the Match event to help Jax from 9:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24. There is no need to register in advance to be swabbed.

The Be the Match event for Jax is being held in conjunction with a community blood drive scheduled for the large group instruction room from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.