March 7th,2009. New York City. I was pleased
to be amongst the 1600 New Yorkers to
participate in the bone marrow drive that took
place at P.S.41 school (
116
W. 11th Street, Manhattan), in hopes
of finding someone who may be a match for
kindergarten student
Jasmina Anema. She is suffering from
a rare and deadly form of leukemia. My friend
Barry Klarberg and I got our cheeks swabbed in
hopes that one of us might be the match needed
to save Jasmina's life. It was very touching to
see how many people care and how organized the
volunteers were. Jasmina, who just turned six,
is adopted, so her doctors are unable to turn to
blood relatives for bone marrow transplants and
her family and friends have been trying to draw
attention to the drive. To learn more please go
to her website
oneforjasmina.com.
Her mother said
earlier this week, "I need thousands of people
to come," and called Jasmina, who was three days
old when she was adopted, "the love of my life."
The drive is also to raise awareness about
registering as a potential bone marrow donor;
here's more
information about
eligibility requirements.
Actress Jill Hennessy (Law & Order, Crossing
Jordan), whose son attended school with Jasmina
and who was one of the many P.S. 41 parents who
helped organize the drive said,"I'm blown away
by the number of people who came to help Jasmina.
It shows what kind of wonderful community we
have here in New York City." Other celebrities
involved are Rihana, New York Knicks center
Chris Wilcox, Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics
and Tyson Chandler of the New Orleans Hornets,
some have visited Jasmina in the hospital.
Grammy award winning singer Kelly Rowland made a
very special visit to Jasmina's hospital room on
her sixth birthday and spend hours with her. She
sang Happy Birthday to Jasmina and decorated
cupcakes.
If you want to sign up to be a donor,
you can do so by mail
(check over the eligibility requirements). There
is also a donor kit available by mail. Katharina
Harf of DKMS Americas, a non-profit organization
that helps people find bone marrow matches was
quoted, "It's very hard for African-American
patients to find a matching donor, because they
are under-represented on the national registry
and their tissue type is more varied, so it's
very hard to find a donor." Jamina's mother
Theodora Anema was amazed at the turnout and
told the News, "This is beyond anything I could
have imagined."
Two months ago Jasmina's mother took her to
the doctor for a cut on her toe that would not
heal. That was what led to the discovery that
she has leukemia.
For more information about
becoming a bone marrow donor, contact
www.DKMSamericas.org
, a non-profit marrow donor center:
866.340.3567. Some donor candidates paid a
voluntary $65 to cover costs others who could
not pay made contributions. Once registering
data is entered into the National Marrow Donor
Program registry, in anonymous form, so doctors
can search for a donor for their patients.
Some Facts:
Each year more than 140,000
people are diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and
other Blood cancers.
Leukemia is the most common
disease children in the U.S. die of, a bone
marrow transplant may be their only chance to
live.
Only 2 out of every 10
patients will receive the transplant that could
save their lives.
Information gathered by Sara
Herbert-Galloway
sara@blacktiemagazine.com