November 3 - Get Swabbed! Save A Life!

The world has lost a bright shining light. 

On Monday, Shannon Tavarez, the 11 year old actress who starred as young Nala in the Lion King on Broadway, has lost her battle with leukemia.  You can read more about Shannon Tavarez here. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Shannon's family and friends as they walk through this very difficult time.


Although Shannon was not with us for a long time, her impact was enormous!  Shannon was a light that shone brightly among us and that light will continue to shine because of the impact she had on getting others to register as marrow donors.   Katharina Harf, co-founder of the bone marrow donor center DKMS, said the donor center registered 10,000 people as potential donors.


Shannon had received an umbilical-cord blood transplant in August. The procedure was performed as an alternative to a Bone Marrow transplant as a perfect bone marrow match for Shannon could not be found.
Unfortunately, Shannon lost her battle...but this beautiful little angel will help many others find a marrow donor.  Check out this video of Shannon singing "The Circle of Life"  from The Lion King.

EVERY FIVE MINUTES... Someone is diagnosed with blood cancer.

EVERY TEN MINUTES... Someone dies from blood cancer.

TEN MINUTES of your time might SAVE A LIFE!

DKMS Americas is a donor center which is a member organization of the Be The Match Registry® (operated by the NMDP).   DKMS works to expand bone marrow donor registries by recruiting bone marrow donors from every race and ethnicity, in order to provide leukemia and other blood cancer patients in need of a bone marrow transplant with the best available donor match.

The mission of DKMS is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors for leukemia patients. More than 23,000 DKMS donors worldwide have helped save lives by donating their bone marrow. DKMS is the largest bone marrow donor center in the world with nearly 2.5 million registered donors. However, there are still thousands of patients who cannot find their donor match. DKMS will continue to recruit bone marrow donors until every patient gets a second chance at life.

DKMS also coordinates the transport of bone marrow and blood stem cells from Germany to the U.S. for patients here in need of bone marrow transplants. Through our efforts, DKMS Americas has registered over 160,000 donors, and more than 270 DKMS (Americas) donors have gone on to donate their bone marrow.

There is still more work to do as only 4 out of 10 people will receive a life-saving transplant. Therefore, we need your help. Learn more.

Get Involved:

Donate to DKMS America.

Become a Bone Marrow Donor.

Organize a Bone Marrow Drive in your area.

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Source:  http://www.dkmsamericas.org/

June 13 (Day 105) Transplant Grants for Kids

TRANSPLANT PATIENTS NEED YOUR VOTE!

Help NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and Be The Match Foundation take the lead in a race for $100,000

Today's post involves another simple thing that you can do to make a difference in the lives of others!  You don't even have to leave your house... just take a few minutes, log on to your pc and make a difference!  I posted about Be The Match Foundation in an earlier post (view post) and decided to post again when I was made aware of this contest.  Helping Be The Match win a $100,000 prize would be awesome! 

Pepsi, Jimmie Johnson and Be The Match Foundation are teaming up in a race to win $100,000.  There’s never been an easier way to help children battling leukemia and lymphoma receive the marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant they need.

Go to NASCAR.COM/PepsiRefresh and vote for NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and Be The Match Foundation’s Transplant Grants for Kids. Voting is open through June 23rd and you can vote as many times each day as you would like.

Pepsi has invited three NASCAR drivers to take part in this friendly competition. All are teammates on the Hendrick Motorsports team and each driver will promote a charity of his choice. The driver who collects the most online votes by June 23rd wins $100,000 for his charity.

Jimmie Johnson, the four time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, has selected Be The Match Foundation as his charity. The funds would help financially vulnerable families afford the uninsured and overwhelming recovery costs that come with a child’s marrow transplant.

“I can't imagine having to choose between being beside my child's hospital bed or being at work in order to keep our insurance active and a roof over our heads. It is a wonderful thing to know that Transplant Grants for Kids can help ease that tension,” Johnson said. “These grants give moms and dads a little less to worry about and give kids what they want most when they are sick - their parents by their bedside."

This $100,000 competition featuring NASCAR drivers is part of the Pepsi Refresh Project, a multi-million dollar national campaign that asks people to submit ideas to better their community and gives the public the chance to vote for their favorite.

Every year, 10,000 patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other life-threatening diseases discover they need a marrow transplant but have no donor match in their family. Many are children. Be The Match Foundation raises funds to help patients find an unrelated marrow donor and receive the transplant they need.

While a marrow transplant can be a life-saving treatment, it takes a financial toll on a family. Often there is the temporary loss of at least one parent’s income to care for their child. And even with insurance, not all costs are covered. On average, child transplant recovery expenses exceed a family’s income by $1,200 per month.

Your support of Be The Match Foundation helps families pay for prescription co-pays, transportation to and from the transplant hospital (often in another state), temporary lodging, and other uninsured expenses for up to six months after transplant.
 
So remember... get out the vote!  Vote for Jimmie Johnson and Be The Match Foundation.  You can vote as many times as you like....stuff that ballot box on behalf of children and families recovering from Marrow transplants! 


Other ways you can help:

Click here to learn about the many ways you can give.
Ways to get involved.
Join the registry.
Give birth to hope... donate umbilical cord blood.  Find out how.



Sources:  Be The Match
               Pepsi Refresh

April 21 (Day 52) - Do Something Big!!

Bone marrow transplant is a life-saving treatment for people with leukemia, lymphoma and many other diseases. First, patients undergo chemotherapy and sometimes radiation to destroy their diseased marrow. Then a donor's healthy blood-forming cells are given directly into the patient's bloodstream, where they can begin to function and multiply.

For a patient's body to accept these healthy cells, the patient needs a donor who is a close match. Seventy percent of patients do not have a donor in their family and depend on the Be The Match Registry to find an unrelated bone marrow donor or umbilical cord blood.

A match for every patient. Hope for every family.

We have a registry of millions. But we still do not have matched bone marrow donors or umbilical cord blood for all patients, especially those from racially and ethnically diverse communities. We need more people to join the registry and expectant parents to donate umbilical cord blood. With your help, more people will receive a transplant. And more families will have a future filled with hope.

April is Donate Life Month.
Get involved. Help save a life.
(click to find out how)

Join the Be The Match Registry.
Make a financial contribution  
Donate umbilical cord blood at your baby's birth.


Source: Be The Match