Luis Danvers Leukemia Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 7, 2012 Contact - Sharon Turnage Phone: 1 718-576-8727 Email: sturnage@luisdanversleukemiafund.org President/CEO

If you could save a life would you?

If you could save a life would you?

20,012 swabs for 2012 Campaign to Raise Awareness Queens, New York - January 1, 2012 the Luis Danvers Leukemia Fund (LDLF) is an organization dedicated to the fight against leukemia and other blood cancers. The LDLF recently launched a new initiative inspired by the need to educate the public about leukemia and becoming a bone marrow donor. This new initiative called 20,012 swabs for 2012 was launched for two reasons; first to add 20,000+ new potential bone marrow donors to the NMDPs national bone marrow registry. The second reason is to make educating the entire nation about this epidemic a priority for the LDLF. The organization realizes that we cannot do this alone we need the help from all of our elected officials, clergy, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, entertainers, anyone in a position to bring about awareness and change. To give you a little background as to why this issue is so important. There is an unprecedented need to find Bone Marrow donors for those patients suffering from leukemia, and other blood related illnesses. Each year approximately 10,000 patients (adults and children) need a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. The problem is that only 4 out of 10 actually find a match. The numbers are even lower for minorities at 1 out of 10. So the LDLF realized that there was definitely a need to do something about this crisis. To help shed light on the enormity of the situation the LDLF started a campaign last year called "GIVE THANKS, GIVE HOPE". The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness across the country by speaking to the public at large about leukemia. We traveled the country making the public aware about how leukemia affects the patient and their families. We also put together 25+ successful Bone Marrow Donor Drives registering over 1500 people. Our goal was to make the public aware about the enormity of the situation caused by leukemia. We wanted to help people have a better understanding about the disease and the treatment process that the patients face. We also let the public know about what they can do to help families in crisis. Now we have launched our new campaign initiative for 2012 called 20,012 swabs for 2012. The goal of this campaign is to register 20,012 new potential bone marrow donors to the registry. This is being done in hopes of ensuring more patients receive their life-saving bone marrow match. We are traveling the country visiting twice the number of states as we did last year in hopes that everyone across the nation understands how crucial it is that we build the registry. Ultimately we hope they will swab. It is important that we increase the number of potential new bone marrow donors

Luis Danvers Leukemia Fund Primary Business Address P.O. Box# 340355 Rochdale Village, N.Y. 11434 Phone: (516) 284-8310 Fax: (516) 284-8310 Website: http://luisdanversleukemiafund.org Email: info@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Staff New York Sharon Turnage

sturnage@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Ray Diamond
rdiamond@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Dante Wright
dwright@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Keith Bey
keithbey@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Virginia Kwinna Stoney-Carter

kcarter@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Pennsylvania Amber Schon-Epps

aschon@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Chicago Tiffany Lynn Schad

tschad@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

New Jersey Renee Compton-Szablewski

rcompton@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Georgia Essie Smith

esmith@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

California Nicole Carroll

ncarroll@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Florida Carmen Illeana Rexach

crexach@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Tyler Nicole Foundation A 501c-3 Not For Profit Organization

Luis Danvers Leukemia Fund

On the registry. Especially when it comes to minorities, that makes up a combined 20% of the registry. African Americans make up about 7% of the registry, Hispanics make up about 8% mixed race makes up about 3%, which lowers their chances of finding a match. The need for minorities to register and get swabbed is crucial. A person needing a Bone Marrow transplant needs to receive marrow from someone whos tissue type is close to his/her own. Tissue types are inherited, similar to hair an eye color. It is more likely that the recipient will find a suitable donor in a brother or sister. This however happens only 25 to 30 percent of the time. If a family member doesn't match the recipient then you must look outside the family. So that is why our new campaign "20,012 swabs for 2012" is so important. It will affect the lives of so many in need with the help and support of all of you. The first stop on the campaign is Harlem, NY but eventually the nation. For more information about becoming a bone marrow donor go to the LDLFs website. There you will find all the information about leukemia and becoming a bone marrow donor. You can also register to become a bone marrow donor right on the site. Website: http://luisdanversleukemiafund.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/luisdanversleukemiafund Twitter: http://twitter.com/ldleukemiafund

If you could save a life would you?

Luis Danvers Leukemia Fund Primary Business Address P.O. Box# 340355 Rochdale Village, N.Y. 11434 Phone: (516) 284-8310 Fax: (516) 284-8310 Website: http://luisdanversleukemiafund.org Email: info@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Staff New York Sharon Turnage

sturnage@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Media:
Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/swabbed-america-boy-effort-pal-bone-marrow-transplant-article1.1037177 NY 1 http://origin.ny1.com/content/top_stories/130059/bone-marrow-drive-to-be-held-in-jamaica News 1 (New York) http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fqueens.ny1.com%2Fcontent%2Ftop_stories%2F13 0043%2Fqueens-mother-hopes-to-find-bone-marrow-match-for-ailingson%3Fr%3D4503480161&h=96ba5 Fox 5 New (New York ) http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/queens/queens-boy-fighting-rare-leukemia-20101210 Thisis50.com http://www.thisis50.com/profiles/blog/show?id=784568%3ABlogPost%3A22675141

Ray Diamond
rdiamond@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Dante Wright
dwright@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Keith Bey
keithbey@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Virginia Kwinna Stoney-Carter

kcarter@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Pennsylvania Amber Schon-Epps

aschon@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Chicago Tiffany Lynn Schad

tschad@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

New Jersey Renee Compton-Szablewski

rcompton@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Georgia Essie Smith

esmith@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

California Nicole Carroll

ncarroll@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

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Florida Carmen Illeana Rexach

crexach@luisdanversleukemiafund.org

Tyler Nicole Foundation A 501c-3 Not For Profit Organization