COMMUNITY JOINS TOGETHER AT BONE MARROW DRIVE
LA PUENTE -- Camila Gonzalez is 4 years old and is in desperate need of a marrow transplant. She has been diagnosed with ALL, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her mom is Carolyn Ceballos Gonzalez, a Kindergarten Teacher at Hurley Elementary in La Puente, where the entire school community joined together to organize an Emergency Bone Marrow drive at the school on January 12, 2012. “We have been overwhelmed with the tremendous support for our little girl. We love our community and are blessed,” said Gonzalez.
On hand at the event was Be the Match, the nation’s largest and most diverse donor marrow registry, managing nearly 9 million marrow donors and 147,000 cord blood units. The process was simple for volunteers -- People filled out a brief questionnaire and then took a saliva sample by swabbing the right and left hand side of their mouth with a Q-tip. Once the sample was placed in an envelope, it takes 4 – 6 weeks to process. If a match is found, the donor is contacted.
Register to Save a Life: If you are between the ages of 18 and 60 and are in general good health, you can register online and be mailed a cheek swab kit. For information on upcoming drives for Camila, please visit www.bethematchfoundation.org/goto/4Camila
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