OKC RedHawks: Blood donations helped save Ridge Cary's life

But with the help of the Oklahoma Blood Institute and doctors, there was hope. Especially on that night, when Alisha Cary swears something divine helped save her son.

“I remember rocking him and thinking, ‘I can't do this anymore. It was too much,'” she said. “At that moment, I heard a voice say, ‘It's over.' There was no one in the room that said it, I just heard it.”

The voice was right. Now the Cary family believes Ridge, 3, has beaten the disease. They attended the RedHawks game Sunday night to promote the nonprofit organization that helped save Ridge's life.

From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, the OBI is hosting an “All-American Blood Drive” to stock supplies over the Fourth of July weekend. Free parking will be available east of the stadium at the corner of Reno and S. Joe Carter Drive.

Donors will receive two tickets to Tuesday's RedHawks game against Memphis and following fireworks show.

“Donating blood doesn't cost anything except donating a little bit of time,” Alisha Cary said. “And literally, you are helping to save someone's life. There's always going to be a kid or an adult in a similar situation to Ridge.”

Ridge was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, known as MLT, when he was eight weeks old. According to OBI and the Cary family, there are only 40 known cases in the world. The disease, which occurs in infants, has shown to disappear within a couple years with the proper treatment. But for those affected, the first year of life is as dangerous as it is painful.