Bone marrow donor needed for 11 yr old Shannon Tavarez (Lion King, Young Nala) — Page 2

My sister, brother and sister-in-law are in Baltimore now doing a Bone Marrow Registry Drive at the Firehouse Expo, as part of the Be The Hero For a Hero foundation (which my sister and sister-in-law set up). They had 106 "potential heros" on Thursday, and will be there until Saturday. With all these drives going on, surely a match will be found for both Shannon and my brother! Fingers crossed and prayers going out...

kec, sorry to hear about your brother needing a match. Keep up the positive attitude.

For those who missed it, there is another drive in Manhattan (not specifically Shannon related) coming up on the 31st. There are others in Brooklyn, Bronx, and in other cities around the country if you use your zip code to search the link I posted earlier in the thread.

Recruitment Center: The Icla da Silva Foundation, Inc.
Telephone Number: 888-638-2870
Drive Name: Harlem Children's Zone
Drive Location: Harlem Children's
Address: 35 E 125th Street; 6th Fl
New York , NY 10035
Drive Date: Jul 31 2010
Drive Time: 12:00PM - 5:00PM

Thanks for all your support! We registered over 750 people today at the Minskoff! Thank you to all who came out, volunteered, or otherwise have supported Shannon!!

sferezy, that's FANTASTIC news!!!!

Update to add that at the Firehouse Expo in Baltimore another 130 potential heroes joined the registry, making a two-day total of 236, with one day left at the expo.

For those who might be interested, here is the link to the Be the Hero site:


Be The Hero for A Hero

Updated On: 7/24/10 at 05:44 PM

A total of 326 potential heroes were added to the registry this weekend at the Firehouse Expo. Combine that with the number of people added to the registry at the two drives on Broadway, that's over 1,000 new people!!!

Great minds think alike Salene -- I was just coming to post that article. Bravo to 50 Cent!

This made my whole day, I'm so happy for her!!

I'm not completely familiar with the cord blood treatment, but I do believe that like the marrow, they need to find a perfect match. My brother's doctor has been looking into this option for him as well.

i believe it has to do with the fact that, generally speaking, cord blood transplants are relatively new when compared to bone marrow transplants. hence, there is more experience with the latter than the former.

here's one way of thinking about it. it's easy to study the effects of different therapies for a disease that is common. i can easily find 18,000 americans at any given time who have high cholesterol. i can put 6000 on one pill, 6000 on another pill, and 6000 on a sugar pill to see a) if the pills are better than placebo (i.e., they actually do what they're supposed to do), and b) see if one pill is better than the other.

this is more difficult to do with conditions that are, generally speaking, less prevalent. so, if there are 50 young children with acute myeloid leukemia, there are difficult questions of testing bone marrow vs cord blood to see which is better. because bone marrow has been in use longer, i suspect it is felt to be "the gold standard," and no one really knows if cord blood is better, as good, or worse, because it is difficult to conduct that kind of study (i.e., doctors may be reluctant to use cord blood if they feel bone marrow is better, and a parent may understandably be reluctant to enroll their child in such a study if it means their child "may" get "inferior" therapy).

i am purposely being vague as i am removed from my pediatrics.

More potential heroes added to the registry courtesy of 50 Cent:
50 Cent Registers 4000 People...