PUYALLUP, Wash. - Greg Hachey has been in a battle to live for nearly a decade.
Diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 7 years old, he's relapsed twice.
And twice, he's looked for a bone marrow donor.
"When he relapsed again, it was really hard," said Greg's dad, Mark Hachey. "We knew that people weren't there."
In 2004, Greg and his family joined then Governor Gary Locke pleading for donors to sign up.
Because Greg's dad is Caucasian and his mother is Filipino, being of mixed race made it extremely difficult to find a match.
"We were trying to understand how it is that people.. they were more than willing to write a check, but they didn't want to give up their dna. and it was like, what are you afraid of?" said Hachey.
Last year, Greg was told he had six months to live, unless he found a donor. He got a bone marrow transplant, but it wasn't a perfect match. Now, he's cancer free, but his body is rejecting the new cells.
"Which is why we'd like to see people donate because we want a hundred percent match versus 60-percent match which is what Greg ended up getting," said Hachey.
So the Insitute for Justice is suing the U.S. Attorney General, on behalf of the Hacheys and other families, hoping to change the National Organ Transplant Act, which doesn't allow people to be compensated for donating organs, including marrow.
"Treating renewable bone marrow, like non renewable solid organs which is kidneys violates equal protection because they're just different," said Jeff Rowes, attorney with Institute for Justice.
The Hacheys are hoping to see donors receive $3000 in compensation, either in a scholarship, home allowance or a gift to the charity of their choice.
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