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Become a Donor, Save a Life
How a young Broadway actress inspires thousands
Photo: MatchShannon.com
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Shannon Taverez, 11, began her Broadway career with the dream role of Nala in The Lion King after winning the first-ever open audition at the Apollo Theater. But a few months later, in April 2010, she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Now, she stays at Long Island’s Schneider Children’s Hospital and receives daily chemotherapy treatments.
Her chances of fighting this rare disease will dramatically increase if she undergoes a bone marrow transplant, and she’s asking you to help out by registering as a donor. It would give not just Taverez a better chance, but also a sunnier outlook for thousands of others who suffer from AML. Taverez, who is part African-American and half-Hispanic, also stresses on her website how tough it is to find a donor for people of minority or multiracial backgrounds.
On Friday, July 23, Tavarez, along with the bone marrow registry DKMS and the cast of The Lion King, will host a Bone Marrow Donor Drive at the Minskoff Theatre (200 W. 45th St.) from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. This is the second such event in July, and they received more than 400 sign-ups the first time. Let’s see if we can beat that number, and AML, this time around.
More information can be found on MatchShannon.com.