An upcoming opportunity to help a little girl with a serious disease will also offer a day of fun.
    A corn hole tournament slated for March 2 will help benefit Irelynn Rose, a 3-year-old with Diamond Blackfan Anemia, an extremely rare blood disorder that affects fewer than 700 people in United States and Canada.
    The corn hole tournament will be held March 2 at Mill Creek Regional Park, from noon to 6 p.m. The entry fee is $30 per team, with a reduction for students showing ID ($20).
    The first place prize is $150, and food will be available. Also, a blood drive will be held on-site.
    Irelynn Rose is a plucky little girl who loves trains, coloring and playing with her sister. She enjoys anything where she can get dirty, her mother said. Having to get blood transfusions every three weeks doesn’t dampen Irelynn’s enthusiasm for life, but her parents, Melissa and Nick Rose, pray for a cure.
    Irelynn was 5 weeks old when she stopped eating and became very ill, Melissa Rose said. Her hemoglobin count should have been more than 10 10, but barely registered 2.8.
    The disease causes bone marrow to fail to make red blood cells, resulting in the need for the blood transfusions.
    “Our dream is for no more blood transfusions for Irelynn, a cure for Diamond Blackfan Anemia and a healthy daughter,” Rose said.
    The tiny tot’s family established Team Irelynn Inc., which is in the process of becoming a nonprofit organization.
    “Team Irelynn is dedicated to educate and to raise funds in support of research efforts currently underway to find a cure for Diamond Blackfan Anemia,” she said. “Also, we want to support blood drives and the importance of giving blood. It is the lifeline for our daughter. Without blood donors, she wouldn't survive.”
    Diamond Blackfin Anemia is usually diagnosed within the first year. Some DBA patients' anemia can be managed with steroid treatment, while others require frequent blood transfusions and iron chelation therapy.
    While it is usually a genetic disease, neither of Irelynn’s parents is a carrier.
    “Irelynn is her own genetic mutation,” Melissa Rose said. “It’s a fluke.”
    Hopefully, research will find a cure and, one day, Irelynn will not need blood transfusions.
    “She is our inspiration and I'm sure would be to so many others,” Rose said. “She is so strong and amazing! By looking at her you'd never know there was a thing wrong.”
    Irelynn has a permanent port through which she receives medication, and calls it “Bumpy.”  If anyone wants to see Bumpy, she will gladly display the port on her rib cage.
    The Bloodmobile will be on-site, and all donors get a free Jimmy John’s sub.
    To register for the corn hole tournament and for more information, call (912) 587-4078 or visit www.teamirelynn.org.
    For more information, contact the Rose family at nick@teamirelynn.org.