Stand With Jordan: Leukemia Treatment Fund

Jordan Mercer is the person who shows up. Flat tire at midnight, moving day, your kid's terrible school play — Jordan's there, usually with snacks. At 19, Jordan beat acute lymphoblastic leukemia and walked out of the hospital into a nursing degree, because of course the answer to two years in oncology wards was to go work in one.

Three weeks ago, at 26, the routine bloodwork came back wrong. The leukemia is back, and this time the path is harder: induction chemo here in Portland, then an allogeneic stem cell transplant at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle — Jordan's best and likely only curative option. A donor match has been found (a 22-year-old in Germany; the registry works, sign up).

What insurance doesn't cover is the part no one warns you about: three months of required relocation to Seattle for transplant and monitoring, a caregiver (Jordan's sister Kelsey, taking unpaid leave), lodging near the Hutch, and the income Jordan won't earn while their immune system reboots from zero. That's the $70,000. The hospital social worker helped us build the budget; we'll share it with anyone who asks.

Jordan has spent seven years showing up for everyone else — patients, friends, strangers with flat tires. This page is everyone else's turn. No donation is too small; Jordan would tell you the snacks matter as much as the truck.