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Letter to the editor

Honoring her son

Ethel Grimsley has been crusading for bone marrow donation since her son Joseph died of leukemia.

By DEMORRIS A. LEE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 14, 2007

Growing up in North Pinellas, Ethel Grimsley was the "quiet one" who had few friends and didn't mind playing by herself.

Now she has moved to the forefront.

After the death in August of her 35-year-old son, Joseph Patrick Grimsley, she has decided to continue the work she started while he battled acute myelogenous leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow, for more than a year.

Grimsley, 56, of Largo, has spent months educating others, especially minorities, about the importance of becoming bone marrow donors. She has organized bone marrow screening events and reached out to anyone who would listen to her.

"It's my mission," she said recently. "God has made it my mission."

Diagnosed in August 2006, Joseph, who lived in Largo, needed a bone marrow donor. There was a match with blood donated from a newborn's umbilical cord, but because of his size, Joseph needed more blood than that one cord provided. So the match never came, and he died Aug. 19.

Still, Ethel Grimsley never gave up faith that God would do what he had planned for her son. She said she followed his direction. The shy woman began to speak to black churches and other groups about the need for blacks to be bone marrow donors.

Grimsley is frustrated at the lack of cooperation by many black churches.

But she will not give up. She plans to travel the state to get more blacks on the national registry.

"Joseph is not here anymore, but he's in my heart," she said. "We can't help him, but we can help someone. That's a blessing to me."

Demorris A. Lee can be reached at dalee@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified October 13, 2007, 20:29:21]