The 52nd Annual God and Country Festival in Nampa yesterday was marked by live entertainment, fireworks, sweet treats and its usual patriotic revelry. But what festival-goers didn't anticipate was the chance to save the life of a Boise teen.
Jake Lindsey, the inspiration behind the group of red t-shirts dawned marked with the words "#TEAMJAKE", was a healthy, multi-talented sports star at Capital High School in Boise, when he was diagnosed with a rare and serious blood condition in called Aplastic Anemia. Unfortunately, he and his family are now left to search for his perfect bone marrow match in order to save his life.
Upon hearing the news, Tim Lindsey, Jake's father, and family friends like Jill Ashby sprung into action, and #TEAMJAKE was born. At yesterday's festival, Team Jake was given a booth where hundreds of festivalgoers were able to provide samples to the Be The Match medical testing organization by swabbing their mouths and gums.
While the chances of finding his son's match are only one in a million, according to Lindsey, he hopes that, at the very least, they can find the match for someone else suffering from a similar diagnosis.
