By Mary Kathryn Carpenter

NATCHEZ — Chad Johnson had never met Hannah Gandy, but the Natchez resident still found time Tuesday to give the gift of life to a 12-year-old girl diagnosed with leukemia.

Johnson was driving by New Covenant Presbyterian Church when he saw a blood drive going on. He stopped to give blood without realizing who the donations were for.

“I just try to give as often as I can,” Johnson said, while getting blood drawn. “I try to give every eight weeks but it’s hard in Natchez. I have to wait for a blood drive to pop up.”

Hannah, who is the granddaughter of Dr. Henk and Alice Kuiper of Natchez, was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia April 8. Only 500 cases of this form of blood cancer have been documented, Jeanne Edwards said, who helped organize the blood drive.

Hannah, a fifth-grader at Madison Avenue Upper Elementary School in Madison, used to spend summer in Natchez with her grandparents for a few months of outdoor fun. This summer, however, she will spend the next five months receiving aggressive chemotherapy to combat her leukemia.

Hannah has received one round of chemo and expects to receive five more rounds at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson.

“Hannah is very excited about getting home and has been smiling…when she was told it was getting close,” said Hannah’s mom, Lydia Gandy, through an online journal meant to keep family and friends updated on Hannah’s condition. “As we look back on the last month that we have been here, we know we could not have made it like we did without the continued prayers, encouragement and support from all our friends family and community.”

Edwards, who is a Natchez resident and family friend, helped organize the Mississippi Blood Services blood drive in Natchez following two successful drives in Madison in which there were more than 200 blood donations and a drive in Starkville.

Edwards said 34 Miss-Lou residents donated blood Thursday and plans for another blood drive in the future were still in the works.

“When Hannah was diagnosed the first thing I heard was she was going to need treatment and a lot of blood,” Edwards said, after having her arm wrapped from giving blood. “Outside of praying, there’s not much to do outside of give blood.”