National Marrow Donor Program

A fund-raising 5K/10K walk will be held Oct. 12 at the Thousand Oaks United Methodist Church to raise $4,500 for the National Marrow Donor Program. The "Walk in the Sun" is named for Thousand Oaks High School senior Valerie Sun, who has aplastic anemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. If reached, the $4,500 goal will be matched by the National Marrow Donor Program and thus allow 200 potential bone marrow donors to be tested. Registration for the event will take place Oct.

A federal law banning compensation for organ transplants doesn't extend to bone marrow harvested from a donor's blood, a federal appeals court said Thursday in a ruling that could attract thousands of new donors in a national campaign to save the lives of those afflicted with cancer and genetic disorders. The 1984 National Organ Transplant Act included bone marrow in its list of "organs and parts thereof" for which donors could face criminal charges and five years in prison for providing them in exchange for money or other "valuable consideration.

At least 200,000 more people are needed in the national registry to meet requests for bone marrow transplants, says Liz Quam of the National Marrow Donor Program. The problem with achieving that goal is a lack of money. The cost of the preliminary blood test to register a potential donor ranges from $60 to $75--a discount price from the laboratories that do the tests at no profit.

A tall, blue-eyed blonde with an Ivy League education can command five figures when she sells her eggs to aspiring parents. People who donate sperm or give blood in the name of helping others also may do so for a fee. But donors of bone marrow, just as naturally replenishable and no longer very painful to extract, risk up to five years in prison if they accept compensation for providing life-saving cells to those stricken with cancer, leukemia or...

The cord blood bank at Children's Hospital of Orange County has applied to become part of an international web of hospitals and organizations that use cord blood in patients needing bone marrow transplants. Since its creation last year, CHOC's cord blood bank has collected more than 200 samples of blood from umbilical cords. Mothers donate the placenta and cords after childbirth.

A now defunct Covina-based bone marrow donor foundation has been cleared of allegations that it misused funds and withheld names of potential donors from another group that also helps arrange transplants, a federal report concluded. The Life-Savers Foundation of America committed no financial improprieties, "generally maintained complete and accurate . . .

A Covina-based bone marrow donor organization, short on donations since a bitter split with a national donor program, announced Monday it is disbanding for the greater good of national donor recruitment and registration efforts. Dr. Rudolf Brutoco, founder of Life-Savers Foundation of America, said his organization's highly publicized break with the federally funded National Marrow Donor Program had caused "some concern and confusion" among potential donors.

More than 17,500 callers have flooded the National Marrow Donor Program in response to former Angel star Rod Carew's emotional appeal last month for bone marrow donors who may save the life of his teenage daughter or other cancer patients.

Katalina Um's story was one of optimism and luck. The 22-year-old student, suffering from cancer, breezily predicted she would conquer the disease consuming her body. And when she beat overwhelming odds last month to find a suitable bone-marrow donor, those closest to her held their breath. But Um never got to receive the bone marrow transplant, her best shot at regaining health. She died Sunday of leukemia.

They forged a deep friendship with blood and bone, after doctors declared them a perfect match. But they never met until a handful of national corporations arranged a brief visit in an unlikely venue. Paul Wood, a 45-year-old database administrator from Orange, gave his bone marrow last year to the Minneapolis-based National Marrow Donor Program, thinking he'd probably never know the sick person he was helping. Joshua Zitscher, a 5-year-old boy from Cincinnati, received the marrow on Feb.

When Mina and Sam Chamberlin fell in love, they knew they might have to overcome some cultural barriers to make their interracial marriage work. But they never imagined that their South Asian and white genetic backgrounds would in any way put their children in potential harm's way. Then in September, the couple's 4-year old daughter, Maya, was diagnosed with a rare blood disease known as HLH. Only a bone marrow transplant could save her life....

Lying in a hospital bed at City of Hope National Medical Center, Guillermo Reinoso tries to keep busy. He watches "America's Most Wanted." He keeps track of his medications. He counts the days until his most recent infection is under control and he can return home to his wife, 6-year-old son and 2-month-old daughter.

For Michelle Chernikoff Anderson, being a bone-marrow donor has given her more than the chance to save a life. It has given her a lasting friendship. The Ventura resident last week reunited with Katie May Berrecloth, 18, whom Anderson helped save years ago through her marrow donation. Berrecloth of Alberta, Canada, was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 18 months old.

The cord blood bank at Children's Hospital of Orange County has applied to become part of an international web of hospitals and organizations that use cord blood in patients needing bone marrow transplants. Since its creation last year, CHOC's cord blood bank has collected more than 200 samples of blood from umbilical cords. Mothers donate the placenta and cords after childbirth.

A fund-raising 5K/10K walk will be held Oct. 12 at the Thousand Oaks United Methodist Church to raise $4,500 for the National Marrow Donor Program. The "Walk in the Sun" is named for Thousand Oaks High School senior Valerie Sun, who has aplastic anemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. If reached, the $4,500 goal will be matched by the National Marrow Donor Program and thus allow 200 potential bone marrow donors to be tested. Registration for the event will take place Oct.

Canyon High School girls softball Coach Lance Eddy and his team have stepped up to the plate to honor their "hero" and former teammate Michelle Carew, who died last April of leukemia. To remember their friend, the daughter of baseball great Rod Carew, the team has hosted the "Home Runs for Heroes" hitting derby, raising $14,000--$1,000 short of their $15,000 goal--to benefit the National Marrow Donor Program.

Katalina Um, a good Samaritan who fed Ventura's homeless and recently launched a drive to increase minority enrollment in a national registry of potential bone marrow donors, has died of leukemia. She was 22. In October, the Ventura woman had been euphoric because a suitable match for her bone marrow had been identified through the National Marrow Donor Program.

When cancer forced its way into Katalina Um's life the first time, she was in the midst of a personal mission to help feed Ventura's homeless. Weakened and bald underneath her wig, she continued handing out hamburgers, sometimes just days after grueling chemotherapy sessions. Now, after 13 months in remission, her particularly aggressive form of leukemia is back. Doctors have told the 22-year-old she has six months to live--unless she finds a compatible match for her bone marrow.

They forged a deep friendship with blood and bone, after doctors declared them a perfect match. But they never met until a handful of national corporations arranged a brief visit in an unlikely venue. Paul Wood, a 45-year-old database administrator from Orange, gave his bone marrow last year to the Minneapolis-based National Marrow Donor Program, thinking he'd probably never know the sick person he was helping. Joshua Zitscher, a 5-year-old boy from Cincinnati, received the marrow on Feb.

Michelle Carew left behind a huge legacy via her family's unprecedented appeal to encourage minority bone marrow donors, National Marrow Donor Program officials said Wednesday. National registry officials do not have a specific tally, but they say potentially thousands of ethnic minorities have stepped forward to become donors since Rod and Marilynn Carew went public with their daughter's leukemia diagnosis in November. "That was absolutely awesome," said Dr.