Blood drive honors 10-year-old who lost battle with cancer

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - A blood drive is honoring the life of a 10-year-old girl who lost her battle with cancer last year.

Impact Life started a blood drive on Monday, marking what would have been Laiken Hagerty’s 11th birthday.

In May of 2021, Laiken was diagnosed with cancer and beat it. But last year, doctors diagnosed her with leukemia and she died just three days later.

Laiken’s treatments required a lot of donated blood- which is why the family is asking for blood donations. Through this drive and through their foundation ‘Live Like Laiken’ the family wants to make sure there’s support for other children battling cancer.

”There’s not enough research done. And there’s not enough treatment options. And we just wanted to make sure that her name is associated with helping others. Because that’s all she ever wanted to do,” said Kirstin Hagerty, Laiken’s mom.

The blood drive is at Impact Life’s locations in Cedar Rapids and Davenport for the next week.

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