• Are you battling with your
child over food?

• Is your child sneaking food?

happened, Weiss' other son,
Logan, was diagnosed with
the same disorder at age 7.
He was more fortunate. A
compatible bone marrow
match was found through
the Brandon Weiss Registry
Logan was transplanted in
1997 and his prognosis is
excellent.
Currently, between its
own bone marrow drives
and partnerships with other
registries, the Brandon Weiss
Registry has access to 2 mil-
lion potential donors. And
patients around the world
contact the Brandon Weiss
Bone Marrow Registry to
seek matches.
"Every year, 9,000 people
in the United States need a
bone marrow transplant,"
says Carolyn Cowsert, exec-
utive director of the
Brandon Weiss Bone
Marrow Registry "Patients
have little chance of match-
ing a parent and only 25
percent match a sibling. Just
one in 20,000 match an
unrelated donor.
"The odds are even less
with minority patients," she
says.
The database for the
Brandon Weiss Bone
Marrow Registry was pri-
marily Jewish when it was
founded. Expanding its mis-
sion is a natural progression,
Cowsert says, in the Jewish
tradition of helping others.
As part of its strategy to impact
minority patients, the registry recent-
ly affiliated with the Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Institute.
"This is part of a larger overall
strategy by the Karmanos Cancer
Center for stem cell expansion so that
more recipients can undergo trans-
plantation," says Dr. Roy Baynes,
chief of Karmanos' Bone Marrow
Transplantation Unit. "Technology
now enables us to maintain records,
to track volunteers, and to match
patients to donors on a world-wide
basis.
Karmanos has affiliated with other
registries and expanded the database
for umbilical cord banks for genetic
matches. "Harvesting umbilical cord
stem cells after a baby is delivered
expands the pool from which to
search," says Dr. Baynes, "increasing a
pediatric patient's chance of finding a

• Is your child gaining too
much weight?

• Do weight problems
run in your family?

For more information about
classes and locations, call:

•

$10.00 OFF
WITH THIS AD

genetically matched donor."
- An alternative to live donors is
often needed because a person may be
unable to donate when actually called
upon. "Some potential donors don't
realize that it is'a surgical procedure
to remove your bone marrow and
some donors back out. Umbilical
cords, on the other hand, are stored
and ready to use as needed."
With the need for donors increas-
ing, the Brandon Weiss Registry
sponsors bone marrow drives about a
dozen times a year throughout the
Midwest to seek new donors.
Participants are asked to submit a
small blood sample that is entered
into the registry.
The tests and entering people into
the registry costs about $60 per per-
son, yet potential donors are not
charged. Funding comes through pri-
vate contributions.

❑

HEADQUARTERS s

-140 0, 4

:44plam0. kwt‘

IF YOU'RE SERIOUS
ABOUT YOUR FITNESS

Let us help you be the best you can be
with 1 on 1 training at our club.
A patient friendly program designed just
for you to help you reach your realistic
fitness goals. Change your life by
changing your lifestyle. Muscle therapy-
and nutritional consulting available.
Call us today for a FREE consultation.

• Nutritional
Counseling
• Muscle/Massage

Therapy

zAkst.

„le

INTERNATIONAL PHYSIQUE CHAMPION
•TV Celebrity Anchor

PETER NIELSEN'S

• Children's

Fitness Programs

Personal Trainin • Club • Free Consultation

4119 Orchard Lake Rd. (at Pontiac Tr.) West Bloomfield
Visit our website www.peternielsen.com

(248) 855-0345

ki

6/2

2000

103