• T
MATCH page 3
The Highest Mitzvah
"Hopefully we will have the results within a week,
and then we will enter them into our computer to
screen for a possible match," said Katasha Belvin,
media coordinator for the National Marrow Donor
Program.
She said the local effort was the largest two-day
Hundreds volunteer their time
and efforts to save two children.
P
DETROI T J EWIS H
erhaps it was the little volunteers. Although the great
girl who dropped off her brunt of the volunteers came
much loved teddy bear, from the community, about half
explaining, "This is for of Rock Financial's employees
Lauren."
donated their time during the
Or maybe it was the other lit- weekend.
tle girl who donated about $22,
The "Match For Life" orga-
her profits from a neighborhood nization will meet this weekend
lemonade stand.
to see if it can continue its ef-
Or possibly it was the hun- forts on a national basis.
dreds of other people who gave
"We think we have the right
their time, their effort, their formula," Mr. Borman said
money, their blood samples to "Maybe with a little fine-tun-
help a little girl and a littler boy ing, this could work in other
find bone marrow matches.
communities."
"We can't thank the volun-
teers enough, said Eric Bor-
man, chairperson of the June
22-23 event "They came to us _.]
across the phone lines, through '-- -1
a network of friends and at the
drive. t
"Although many of the peo- W.-.
ple knew the families, some had
no connection to the two kids,"
he said
More than 350 people volun-
teered to help make the drive
the largest two-day event ever
to benefit the National Marrow
Donor Program. They hung up
signs before the event, they
called people to make sure they
would be there, they funneled
potential
poten tial marrow donors
through the process and they
awked the drive at shopping
malls and bookstores on the
days of the event.
"It was fantastic. It was in-
redible," said Cherie Levi, the
unt of Coby Levi, one of the chil-
n for whom the drive was be-
held. 'The whole community,
he whole city was so positive
about saving a life. They were
giving whatever they could."
And that included money.
ach test runs $45, and the
erican Red Cross picked up
' half the cost. Assuming respon-
sibility for the other $22.50 per
test
would have cost the families
cr)
approximately $175,000. Dona-
z tions exceeded $80,000. Rock Fi-
Lia
nancial, the host of the drive, will
pick up the rest of the tab.
"We were overwhelmed, not
only by our staff," said Gary
Gilbert, executive vice president
of the mortgage company, "but
by the rest of the community."
About 250 people volun-
teered in the weeks before the
drive began. Another 100 peo-
ple, many with bandages on
their arms, walked out of the
drive as donors and back in as
10
PHOTO BY J OHN M. OI SCHER
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
drive for donors in the history of the program; an ef-
fort in Hawaii holds the record for a one-day
- .
• drive
of just over 5,000 people.
-
One of the most surprising aspects was not the
volume of people who turned out but the diversity
of the crowd. People of European, African, Asian,
Hispanic and Native American descent lined up to
be tested. Jews — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform,
Humanist and Reconstructionist — stood in line
with gentiles to fill out forms, be screened and give
two Niles of blood.
Nancy Paja drove from ShelbY Township to teach
her children the importance of helping others. "I
have kids, and I think it is real important. If we 1
did this, we could probably help a lot of kids," she
said as her blood was being drawn.
Buses packed with church-goers unloaded after
Sunday services; a group traveled more than 140
miles from West Branch to be tested. Patients seek-
ing donor matches brought their neighbors and
friends; a gaggle of about 20 motorcyclists, clad in
leather and chains, parked in front of the entrance
tent early Sunday to donate before their weekly out-
ing.
"We all stopped when they pulled up," said Hilary
King, chairperson of "A Match For Life."
"It was so touching and sweet for them to show
up," she said.
Rod Carew checks out
Ms. King credited the large
Lauren Cohn's doll
turnout
to the media coverage
collection last
of the drive in the week before
Thursday.
it was held. But she and others
were praised for getting the
Stu Cohen of West
Bloomfield fills out a
word out.
donor application.
"She and everyone did a
tremendous job of informing the
media," said Cherie Levi of West
Bloomfield, Coby's aunt. "Everywhere you turned,
you heard about the drive."
The coverage peaked last Thursday when base-
ball Hall of Famer Rod Carew came to town to en-
courage donors. At a press conference in Huntington
Woods City Hall, Mr. Carew said he dedicated him-
self to expanding the National Marrow Donor Reg-
istry at the request of his daughter, Michelle, who
died April 17 of complications from leukemia. Ms.
Carew had found her match in March but was too
ill to await further testing of the potential donor.
"Hilary King and the organizers did a great job,
and the community did a great job," Mr. Carew said.
"I just did what little I could. Hopefully, we will be
able to help locate matches for Lauren Cohn and
some of the thousands of children who suffer from
this disease."
Nationally, 2,000 individuals need unrelated
donors from the registry; Michigan is home to 90.
Potential donors from the international and national
registries comprise approximately 3 million indi-
viduals have gone through testing and have con-
sented to donate marrow if called upon.
The registries exist for individuals who are not
able to find a match in their families. Lauren, who
suffers from acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and
Coby, who was diagnosed with a genetic blood dis-
order at the age of 2, were not able to find match-
es.
Lauren endured 28 months of conventional ther-
apy and relapsed on what was to be her last day of
treatment, April 18. Coby's best hope for treatment
is a bone marrow transplant; this is the fifth drive
held in his name.
If Lauren or Coby find matches, she or he will
have to go through seven to 10 days of rigorous
chemotherapy and radiation to kill existing marrow
cells. She or he will be moved into isolation to reduce
the risk of an infection. The donor's marrow will then
be transfused in the hopes that it will migrate to the
bone to reproduce cells. There is a 50 percent suc-
cess rate with the procedure. ❑