NEW YORK, March 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, April 7th, 2012 from 12pm to 5pm the Newfield High School will host a Bone Marrow Drive to help find a compatible marrow donor for Board of Education employee Dianne Martinez.
Dianne is a very caring and beautiful 39-year-old Hispanic woman who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in January of 2012. Dianne's only hope for a cure is a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately no one in her family is a match. Now she depends on the Be the Match Registry to find a donor who can give her a chance for a cure. Because she is Hispanic, her best chance for a match is someone who is also of Hispanic racial/ethnic background.
The Be the Match Registry, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, is the world's largest and most diverse bone marrow donor registry with more than 9 million donors. According to the Be The Match Registry, 70 percent of all patients who need a transplant do not have a matching donor in their family and they turn to the Be The Match Registry to find an unrelated donor. Unfortunately, Hispanic and Latinos are under-represented in the registry. So there is an urgent need for Hispanic and Latino donors to join the registry.
The Bone Marrow Drive will take place at the Newfield High School Cafeteria located at 125 Marshall Drive, Selden, NY, 11784. To join the Be the Match registry, one needs to be between 18 and 60 years old, meet the health guidelines and be willing to donate to any patient in need. If you cannot attend this drive or any other listed at www.icla.org, please consider joining online at http://join.marrow.org/SaveDianne
The drive is being sponsored by the Icla da Silva Foundation, the largest recruitment center for the Be the Match Registry. It costs $100 to add each donor to the registry. Although anyone can join at no cost, donations are welcome so that the Foundation can continue to hold those drives at no cost.
For more information, to volunteer or make a financial contribution, please call the Icla da Silva Foundation toll free at 1-888-638-2870, email info@icla.org or visit the foundation's website at www.icla.org.
Contact: Priscilla Panizza
(718) 360 5799
Priscilla@icla.org
www.icla.org
SOURCE Icla da Silva Foundation
