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L is for Lifesaving: Be a Hero for a Kid with Leukemia

 

Leni lukemia fight

What would you do if your child had cancer? What wouldn’t you do? Well, all parents of sick kids are warriors, they fight for the lives of their kids, they fight to stay positive and they fight for more time. Leni Hsiao’s parents have a particularly tricky battle to fight. We all know that finding a bone marrow match is challenging, finding a match with a mixed -race donor is even harder. Here Leni’s parents explain it all to us:

Leni Hsiao is a four month old Brooklyn baby who was recently diagnosed with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AML-M7), a rare form of pediatric bone marrow cancer. It represents approximately 1% of all leukemias during childhood & has an incidence of 0.5% per million per year.
She is currently undergoing rounds of chemotherapy at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital and will eventually need a bone marrow transplant. Because Leni is of mixed race (Chinese and Jewish), she faces more difficulty than an average patient in finding a suitable bone marrow match. Friends and family of the Hsiaos have banded together to organize bone marrow drives to spread the word about the need for more mixed race and minority donors in the national bone marrow registry (http://www.bethematch.org). The Hsiao family has received overwhelming support from many Brooklyn mamas and papas, upon learning of Leni’s condition. Considering the fact that people identifying as mixed race are the fastest growing minority in the U.S. and, no doubt, in our communities in Brooklyn, knowing about Leni’s cause hits home to many. While Leni’s search for a bone marrow donor is over (her 2 year old sister was fortunately found to be a match), many mixed race patients of minority or mixed race descent are still continuing their search.

How can I help?

You can help by …

  • donating money to cover Leni’s medical expenses
  • registering to be a bone marrow donor
  • hosting a fundraiser and/or bone marrow drive, and
  • spreading Leni’s story to your friends and family.

Where can I donate to Leni?
In-person – If you’d like to make a donation in person, please consider attending one of our fundraising events.

Online – You can also donate through PayPal by clicking “Donate Now” . All proceeds (minus PayPal’s fees of 2.9% of the donation plus an additional $0.30) go directly to pay for expenses related to Leni’s care.

Where can I register to be a bone marrow donor?

Within the U.S.

If you live in the U.S., you can join the national bone marrow registry:

In-person – Go to one of Be The Match®’s many bone marrow drives or go to a Love for Leni bone marrow drive.

Online – Go to BeTheMatch.org to order a registration kit (a swab kit to collect a cheek cell sample).

Outside the U.S.

If you live outside the U.S., you can still help Leni through your country’s bone marrow registry. The National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), which operates Be The Match®, has formal business relationships with donor registries in other countries, which means that Leni’s doctors can still find you through these registries. Click on the links below to find out more.
Cooperative Registries
International Donor Centers

How do I host a fundraiser and/or bone marrow drive?

We can help promote your event here on loveforleni.com and through our other social media channels.

Additionally, we can also put you in touch with the National Bone Marrow Registry representatives that we are working with to run your bone marrow drive. Just e-mail us at weloveleni@gmail.com.

How can I help promote Leni’s cause?

You can help by spreading the word about Leni’s website and our events. Social media (twitter, instagram, facebook and blogs) has been great to us! You can use the image below to use in your blog or e-mail to your contacts.