Jennifer Jones Austin, 42, is a mother of two who’s survived leukemia. Shortly after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, and learning that without a bone marrow transplant her chances of survival were very slim, Jennifer’s family contacted The Icla da Silva Foundation.

They needed support and help to find her a compatible bone marrow donor in the national registry.

In just two months, Jennifer’s relatives and friends, supported by The Icla da Silva Foundation, organized more than 200 marrow drives and managed to add the astonishing number of 13,000 new potential donors to the registry. Jennifer didn’t find a match, but the campaigns organized on her name have given hope to thousand of patients in need, especially those within the African American community.

Jennifer had an umbilical cord blood transplant at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital on March 2010 and is recovering well. You can watch Jennifer's emotional speech on the video bellow.