Huge Success, reserve early for '07!  

                                                     A DONOR'S STORY

                                      
                                                 Donating Stem Cells-Alane Gonzalez

One of Kids Beating Cancer’s Objectives, is to increase, through community awareness and education, the size and diversity of volunteers willing to donate marrow or blood stem cells if matched with a patient in need, thereby, increasing the number of life-saving marrow and blood stem cell transplants to local children and adults, and children and adults all over the world.

An organization is defined by the people and the services provided.  The vision statement and strategic plans can chart one’s direction, but they mean little without the commitment of dedicated people.  Unless an organization is able to put people who have a need with people who care deeply about that need, a vision statement is just ornamentation.  Alane Gonzalez is one of Kids Beating cancer's self-less heroes who cares deeply about someone she doesn’t even know.  Without hesitation she registered to join the National Marrow Donor Registry at a employee donor recruitment drive facilitated by the Kids Beating Cancer, by taking a simple blood test. Recently she was identified as a perfect match for a patient with leukemia whose only hope for survival is to receive a stem cell transplant as soon as possible.  Alane gave this man a second chance at life and the hope of a cure.  What an incredible gift to know that you and you alone will give a stranger life.  Alane is an example of the successes of Kids Beating Cancer and reflects the true meaning of human kindness and the impact that one volunteer can have on another.

Breanne just 15 years old, was a typical, athletic, fun-loving young teenager when her world came to a dramatic stop. Breanne was diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoma and Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Life as she had known it was over. Without a life-saving bone marrow transplant, she would not survive. One moment, her greatest fear was passing an algebra test and worrying if she would have a date to the prom; the next, it was hospitalizations, painful treatments, hair loss, perhaps even death. In order to have a second chance at life; Breanne had to have a nearly perfectly matched bone marrow donor. As an only child with no good parental match, her only hope was to find a compatible marrow donor from someone she didn’t even know. Fortunately for Breanne, a program existed to help her in her search. A potential donor, recruited and typed long before she was even diagnosed, had been recruited, and was even found to be an identical match. Though the treatment was still difficult, the transplant was completely successful. Breanne was given a second chance at life from a total stranger. Today, Breanne is a happy, healthy and energetic senior in college fulfilling her dream to become a social worker and help families struggling with a child diagnosed with cancer. A whole life is stretching out ahead for her because a total stranger joined the marrow registry and then gave the gift of life to a child they didn’t even know.  Kids Beating Cancer's successful marrow recruitment is at it’s best, when the marrow volunteer, even years later, remains committed to donating a small amount of their marrow….and the next Breanne who may not even be stricken yet, will have a second chance to love, laugh and have a future.

KBC is dedicated to finding those total strangers so the Breanne’s of this world can live. KBC has recruited and typed a remarkable 18,000 new potential donors now ready to offer the next Breanne the living gift of life itself. Because each human being is genetically unique, finding the needed “perfect match” requires a huge pool of potential donors. Despite the fact that over 5 1/2 million are registered worldwide, not everyone will find a donor because the pool is not large or diverse enough to meet the growing demand. KBC pioneered new recruitment approaches to increase retention and successful donation, concentrating on education and awareness of the need, rather than just “signing up” donors, continues to connect donors with patients.

Over Fifteen years ago, young John Voight inspired his mother to start KBC with the simple question, “Mommy, why do some kids get leukemia?” John lived for four years after his diagnosis at the age of 5 and through two bone marrow transplants.  His struggle to survive ended at the young age of nine. Now, fourteen years after his death, his question still is not answered, but the effort it started, is recruiting more donors daily and there are children like Breanne, who are alive today because he wondered “why.”