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.
Find One Way Every Day on Facebook.
Help me spread the word about One Way Every Day. LIKE me on Facebook!
Source: http://www.dkmsamericas.org/
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