Mother of Three Needs to Find a Marrow Donor to Save Her Life
02 Apr 2009
New York, NY (March 18,2009) In a blink of an eye, Angela Quiles’ life changed from a thrilled registered bone marrow donor to a patient in urgent need of one.
The 30 year-old Ecuadorian mother of three was diagnosed with leukemia right after giving birth to her last daughter. And today little Alexandra brings Angela the strength to fight against the disease. Between tears and smiles, Angela remembers her life time dream of helping someone by registering to be a bone marrow donor and how odd and sad it was for her to call the National Marrow Donor Program and ask them to remove her name.
Angela is fighting for her life and The Icla da Silva Foundation is supporting her. Several bone marrow drives have been set up throughout the country, inviting the Hispanic community to sign up as marrow donors. Being Hispanic, Angela’s best chance of finding a compatible match is with another person who is also from the Hispanic racial/ethnic background. The probability of a person to match another from the same ethnic/racial background is 1 in 20,000. Currently, Hispanics still underrepresented in the Be The Match Registry, where out of the 7.5 million registered donors, only 650,000 are from the Hispanic background.
The Icla da Silva Foundation has issued an appeal for Hispanics and Latinos to register as a volunteer marrow donor. The first step is to join the Be The Match Registry. Anyone who meets the health guidelines and is between of 18 and 60 can Join the Registry. After completing a brief consent form, potential donors will collect some cheek cells from inside the mouth using a cotton-tipped swab. The Icla da Silva Foundation is covering the $52 cost to register, so everyone can join for free.
Each year more than 35,000 children and adults in the United States are diagnosed with diseases for which a marrow or blood cell transplant could be a cure. Unfortunately, only 4,000 receive a bone marrow transplant. Because of the low number of Hispanic numbers in the registry, only 189 of those are Hispanic.
The Icla da Silva Foundation honors the life of a thirteen-year-old Brazilian girl who passed away after bravely fighting leukemia despite her family, friends and neighbors’ tireless effort to find her a matching donor.
To help Angela, please click on “Upcoming Drives” to find a location to join as a possible donor. You can also join online. Please consider volunteering with us to Angela and many of patients like her.
The 30 year-old Ecuadorian mother of three was diagnosed with leukemia right after giving birth to her last daughter. And today little Alexandra brings Angela the strength to fight against the disease. Between tears and smiles, Angela remembers her life time dream of helping someone by registering to be a bone marrow donor and how odd and sad it was for her to call the National Marrow Donor Program and ask them to remove her name.
Angela is fighting for her life and The Icla da Silva Foundation is supporting her. Several bone marrow drives have been set up throughout the country, inviting the Hispanic community to sign up as marrow donors. Being Hispanic, Angela’s best chance of finding a compatible match is with another person who is also from the Hispanic racial/ethnic background. The probability of a person to match another from the same ethnic/racial background is 1 in 20,000. Currently, Hispanics still underrepresented in the Be The Match Registry, where out of the 7.5 million registered donors, only 650,000 are from the Hispanic background.
The Icla da Silva Foundation has issued an appeal for Hispanics and Latinos to register as a volunteer marrow donor. The first step is to join the Be The Match Registry. Anyone who meets the health guidelines and is between of 18 and 60 can Join the Registry. After completing a brief consent form, potential donors will collect some cheek cells from inside the mouth using a cotton-tipped swab. The Icla da Silva Foundation is covering the $52 cost to register, so everyone can join for free.
Each year more than 35,000 children and adults in the United States are diagnosed with diseases for which a marrow or blood cell transplant could be a cure. Unfortunately, only 4,000 receive a bone marrow transplant. Because of the low number of Hispanic numbers in the registry, only 189 of those are Hispanic.
The Icla da Silva Foundation honors the life of a thirteen-year-old Brazilian girl who passed away after bravely fighting leukemia despite her family, friends and neighbors’ tireless effort to find her a matching donor.
To help Angela, please click on “Upcoming Drives” to find a location to join as a possible donor. You can also join online. Please consider volunteering with us to Angela and many of patients like her.