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“Each of us has the capacity within ourselves to give the gift of life,” said Airam da Silva, M.P.H., from Icla da Silva Foundation. “We are appealing to Hispanics and Latinos to give hope to other Hispanics suffering from leukemia, Lymphoma ad other life-threatening diseases.” Because the characteristics that determine whether a donor and patient match are inherited, the most likely match is with a sibling. However, 70 percent of patients do not have a family match. They must rely on volunteer marrow and blood cells donors. Although it is possible for a Hispanic or Latino to match a donor from any race or ethnic group, the most likely match is someone who shares the same heritage.

“Alianza Dominicana has joined the Foundation in its efforts and is hosting a drive at our main office located at 2410 Amsterdam Avenue, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10033 every Monday from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm with the goal of signing up Latino and Dominican donors to save patients who are suffering from life-threatening diseases curable with marrow and blood cells transplants” said Moisés Pérez, Alianza’s Executive Director.

To survive, these patients need blood-forming cells to help their bodies make new, healthy marrow. Blood-forming cells are immature cells that can develop into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. These cells usually live in bone marrow but are also released, in small numbers, into the bloodstream. Marrow and blood cells transplants are effective treatments for leukemia, lymphoma and other potentially fatal diseases.

The first step to becoming a donor is to join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. Anyone who meets the health guidelines and is age 18 and 60 can join the Registry. After completing a brief health questionnaire, volunteer donors will donate some cheek cells from inside the month using a cotton-tipped swab, no blood sample is necessary to register, and sign a consent form. There is no cost to Hispanics and Latinos to register or to donate.

Recruiting over 12,000 Hispanic/Latinos bone marrow donors each year at more than 450 drives from Massachusetts to Florida and Puerto Rico, the Foundation continues to urge more Hispanics to join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

About 6 million people are registered nationally as bone-marrow donors; about 400,000, or 7 percent, are Latinos, according to the donor program.

Ideally, the percentage should be doubled to 14.1 percent to mirror the country's Hispanic population.

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 2,500 find a match and receive a bone marrow transplant. Of those, approximately 180 are Hispanics, a very small number due to the probability of finding a match within the 7 percent in the registry. Although a Hispanic patient can find a match who is from a different ethnic background, the changes are match higher if they look at the same ethnicity.

Kenneth Morales, a 9-year-old boy, is one of those in need of a compatible donor. No one is his family was a match and the search at the National Registry was not successful. The family reached our to the Icla da Silva Foundation for help and the organization reached out to the community.

To find out more about Icla da Silva Foundation, becoming a bone marrow or blood cells donor, and other ways to help, please call our toll free number 1-866-FDN-ICLA (1-866-336-4252), send us an e-mail Info@icla.org or visit our website www.icla.org. For more information about Alianza Dominicana’s effort please call (212) 740-1960 ext. 131

To join the registry, please go to one of our drives or call us toll free at 1-866-336-4252.

Besides his brother, Gilberto’s father also died of cancer, in the stomach, and one cousin died of leukemia. “When I went to Danbury’s hospital, I told the doctor it could be cancer, but he said my symptoms did not correspond to a person with this disease”, he said.

Due to his insistence, the doctors decided to proceed with all the exams necessary to check if Gilberto would have any kind of cancer. The exams confirmed leukemia.

To the Brazilian, what started the pain and consequently the finding of the disease was the weak emotional state he found himself in after the death of his brother. “I deeply miss my brother, my emotional balance came down to zero. I think if it was not for his death, my disease would take longer to appear, what would be for worse” , he explained.

Gilberto went through five months of chemotherapy, by the use of a very strong medicine. “In the beginning I had a difficult reaction to the medicine, with strong pain in the legs, fever and strong headache. Now my body is more used to it and I don’t feel anything”, he said. The Brazilian said he works around ten hours per day as a carpenter, and just try not to carry weight.

Although he continues to receive chemotherapy, Gilberto knows the only chance to cure his leukemia is a bone marrow transplant. “My sister came one day with the newspaper Comunidade News with an article about the work of The Icla da Silva Foundation, which helps patients with leukemia”, he said.

On the very same day, Gilberto contacted Airam da Silva, Executive Vice-President of the Foundation. The answer was immediate: “They came to my home one week after and collected blood from my two sisters, my girlfriend and a friend, to check if they were matches for me. My eight brothers in Brazil also had their blood tested through The Icla da Silva Foundation, everything without any cost for us”, declare Gilberto.

Not finding any match in his family, as well as among the registers of the National Bone Marrow Program, that has more than 5.7 million donors registered, Gilberto decided to promote a drive in his own community to recruit more donors. Being a member of the Catholic Community of Danbury, Gilberto, together with The Icla da Silva, promoted one of the best succeded driver in Danbury by the number of donors recruited. A hundred and six people donated blood samples to join the Registry. According to Airam da Silva, the average recruitment in the drives is 35.

Despite of all the support received from the Foundation, friends and family, Gilberto will be on the way to Brazil on July 28, 2005, when he shall return to Governador Valadares. For him, the short spare time and the heavy work on the US makes it difficult to dedicate attention to his health. “I want to try an alternative treatment besides chemotherapy and also I will be closer to my mother and brothers’, he said.

According to Airam da Silva, the difficult in finding a match for Gilberto derives from the fact that his family has an eccentric mixture of races. His great grand father is African and his great grand mother is Brazilian indian.

Brazil is a country with the smallest number of donors due to the race mixture. Only 20 thousand Brazilians are registered. Less than 0.4% of the donors registered in the US.

The Icla da Silva Foundation promotes a number of drives all over the country, trying to increase the number of donors and in that way give more chance for those who wait for a bone marrow transplant. “We promote drives in any place. Churches, restaurants and even on the private home of any one who wants to contribute with the Foundation.

The constant address changes of the Brazilians in the US also makes it difficult the work of the Foundation. According to Airam, only last year, the Foundation located 100 matches, but 70% could not proceed with the donation. 35% simply could not be founded due to changes of address and telephone number. “It is very important that people update their register every time any change occurs”, emphasized Airam.

The Icla da Silva Foundation exists for more than 14 years. This non-profit organization works for the cause of people from all over the world, diagnosed with leukemia – a disease that causes the degeneration of the blood cells and in most of the cases can lead to death.

Being a member of the National Bone Marrow Program of the US, the organization has international liaisons, to make it possible to register people interested in helping those who need bone marrow transplant. The transplant is a process that can make possible the cure of the disease that affects about 35 thousand Americans each year.

To promote a drive, any one can get in contact with The Icla da Silva Foundation by the number (212) 593-1807 or visiting the website www.icla.org.

The Icla da Silva Foundation has been chosen to receive the Brazilian International Press Award 2005 - 05/05/05

On May 10, 2005, The Icla da Silva Foundation will receive the Brazilian International Press Award 2005 for its Achievement in Philantropy. The awards ceremony will take place at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Icla da Silva Foundation was founded in 1992 in memory of Icla da Silva, who died of leukemia at the age of 13. Its mission is to maximize the quality of life for children with leukemia and other blood cancers. Its goal is to improve access to needed bone marrow transplants from matching, but unrelated donors, for both adult and pediatric patients. The Foundation focuses its activity upon the underserved population —filling an important gap in the outreach effort and health care delivery system of the National Marrow Donor Program.

Operationally, the Foundation’s activities fall into three discrete categories: (1) Bone Marrow Outreach, Education, and Donor Recruitment; (2) Patient Support Services for individuals receiving transplants for blood related cancers, and their families; and (3) International support throughout Latin and South America through grants to local non-profits serving children with cancer, and through technology transfer, education, and organizational technical assistance to medical professionals serving pediatric cancer patients.

To date, the Foundation has recruited over 45,000 potential bone marrow donors (8300 in 2004 alone). Beyond facilitating the match of donors, the Foundation work extensively with patients and their families to expedite their access to care; provide bilingual support services before, during, and after the highly stressful periods of hospitalization. The Foundation also assists families in negotiating the complex and confusing medical care system. When necessary, we provide financial assistance to those in need of transportation fares, housing, basic subsistence, and medication.

The Brazilian International Press Award started in 1997 and it is the most recognized event highlighting the contributions and image of the Brazilian community in the United States.

Not only Brazilians, but people, institutions and events by many nationalities have received the “Newspaper Boy” award for their great contribution to the Brazilian positive image. Created by the journalist and producer Carlos Borges, who has lived in South Florida for 15 years, the Press Award popular and press and cultural representatives panels of voting.

Annually, from December 1st until January 31st., direct votes from general public come to the committee through the official web-site www.pressaward.com. Thousands of votes define the 5 nominees in each of the 14 categories, which range from Arts to Sports, from Community Affairs to Philanthropy. The list is then submitted to a Final Judges Panel, consisting of 150 prestigious and well-recognized journalists, cultural leaders and Brazilian community representatives from 11 U.S. states.

Leukemia Survivor Speaks to Over 200 Guests at The Icla da Silva Foundation Annual Fundraising Awards Reception - 09/30/04

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The Icla da Silva Foundation Helps Honduras Patient Reunite With His Family - 09/30/04

Leukemia Survivor Meets Her Bone Marrow Donor for the Very First Time - 11/12/03

Leukemia Patient Shares her Story and Requests Help to Find a Compatible Marrow Donor - 11/12/03