The Icla da Silva Foundation

The Icla da Silva Foundation, a nonprofit organization under section 501(c) 3 of the IRS Code, was established in June of 1992 after the death of Icla da Silva, a thirteen-year-old Brazilian girl who had leukemia. She died after intense efforts by her family, friends and neighbors to find a matching donor.

The mission of the Icla da Silva Foundation is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors and by providing support services to children and adults with leukemia and other diseases treatable by marrow transplants.

Today, the Icla da Silva Foundation is the largest Recruitment Center for the Be the Match Registry, recruiting over 38,000 new potential marrow donor per year.  With offices in New York, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami and Puerto Rico, the Foundation has expanded its recruitment and patient services to many other parts of the country.