WABASH — 2020 Riley Champion Jace Randel will be publicly recognized at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the MSD of Wabash County school board meeting, 204 N. CR 300W, Wabash.

Randel was 11 years old when a bone marrow biopsy at Riley Hospital for Children revealed he had severe aplastic anemia, leaving his bone marrow unable to make enough blood cells for his body. The only treatment was a bone marrow transplant; thankfully, Randel’s older sister, Audrie, was a match. Randel stayed at Riley for 53 days.

When a family friend raised money for his care, Randel requested that the funds be given instead to Riley Children’s Foundation to support child life, stem cell social work and the research of his primary physician, Riley Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist Grzegorz Nalepa, M.D., Ph.D., who passed away suddenly last fall.

Randel is now a 16-year-old high school sophomore who loves baseball, takes honors classes and raises chickens for 4-H.