Bone marrow drive Saturday in memory of Des Plaines native

Kerry Piest says she doesn't want anyone to experience what her brother Kenneth Piest, a respected Des Plaines eye surgeon, went through waiting for a bone marrow match that was never found.

"I can't even describe it ... it was horrifying," Kerry Piest said. "I can't imagine what he himself went through. He was a fighter until the end. No bone marrow match was ever found for him in time."

Ken Piest, 53, died Oct. 5, 2007, more than a year and a half after he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. In his memory, Kerry Piest is conducting a bone marrow drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Maryville Academy, Stein Center, 1150 N. River Road, Des Plaines.

Kerry Piest said a 2006 bone marrow drive to find a match for Ken added 122 new bone marrow donors to the registry. This year's goal is registering 500 people in the National Bone Marrow Registry.

"This is all about trying to save cancer patients," Kerry Piest said. "It is a no-cost event to put potential donors on the registry."

The Piest family, longtime Des Plaines residents, is so stranger to grief. Fifteen-year-old Robert Piest - brother to Kerry and Ken - was the last victim of John Wayne Gacy. The investigation into his disappearance eventually led to Gacy's capture.

"I wish he was here," Kerry Piest said.

She added, she will miss both her brothers and their father, who died in 2006, at today's event.

The fundraiser includes a bake sale. Valentine's Day balloons and Fannie Mae candy also will be sold. Proceeds from the event will benefit DKMS America, the largest bone marrow donor center, which supplied the registration forms and cheek swabs for the drive.

"All of that is going to be donated to pay for the donors' tissue typing," Kerry Piest said.