FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marrow Registration Drive to Help Seattle Girl Combat Rare Form of Leukemia

SEPTEMBER 14, 2001, SEATTLE — The Puget Sound Blood Center is hosting a bone marrow registration drive to help four-year old Nicole Howard of Seattle fight a rare form leukemia. The Blood Center is putting a call out to people of mixed-race heritage and the minority community to greatly increase the chances of finding a marrow match.

• What: Bone Marrow Registration Drive
• When: Day, September 15, 2001, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Where: Garfield Community Center, Corner of 23rd and Cherry in Seattle’s Central District

"Nicole is of Asian-Caucasian descent so she, like all multi-ethnic persons have a difficult time finding marrow donor matches," said Keith Warnack, Blood Center spokesman, "Right now mutli-ethnic people make up only two percent of the National Marrow Donor Program. With this drive, we hope to increase that number while finding a match for Nicole."

About Nicole Howard
Young Nicole suffers from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) -- a very rare type of leukemia found in one child out of a million under the age of ten. The only known cure is a bone marrow transplant. Because the nature of marrow is inherited, the best chance of finding a suitable donor is with someone of the same racial or ethnic background.

No one in Nicole's family is a suitable match, and because of Nicole's mixed Asian-Caucasian heritage, she will most likely need a match from a donor of the same background.

"We're leaving no stone unturned to find match donor for our daughter," said Nicole's father, Seattle Police Detective Rob Howard. "And through this registry drive, we will increase the diversity of the Marrow Registry and hope to save not just Nicole's life -- but the lives of others."

About the Need for Bone Marrow
Every year, thousands of adults and children need bone marrow transplants; a procedure which may be their only chance for survival. Although some patients with aplastic anemia, leukemia or other cancers have a genetically matched family member who can donate, about 70 percent do not. These patients' lives depend on finding an unrelated individual with a compatible tissue type, often within their own ethnic group, who is willing to donate marrow.

There is a critical need for more bone marrow donors. Many patients, especially people of color, cannot find a compatible donor among those on the registry. Patients and donors must have matching tissue types, and these matches are found most often between people of the same ethnic group. A large, ethnically diverse group of prospective donors will give more patients a chance for survival.

To find out more about the marrow registry or other life-saving blood drives, contact the Puget Sound Blood Center at (206)292-6500, or visit the Blood Center's Web site at www.psbc.org.

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