Hope Was Everywhere

The human spirit is alive. People are surprisingly positive and giving, kind and generous…I witnessed it first hand last weekend. Hope was everywhere.

Saturday, April 14th was the 2nd annual Mix and Match luncheon sponsored by the Icla da Silva Foundation. Despite the inherent challenges and dire consequences of people dealing with various forms of blood cancers, the room was filled with smiles and hope.

Family members stood and talked about their involvement with Icla da Silva. They shared stories about the loss of loved ones due to leukemia and MDS, but they still maintained focus on the importance of spreading the word about bone marrow donation and doing everything they could to help others, in the name of their father, son, daughter, husband, sister, wife, cousin and friend.

Donors talked about receiving the call that they were a match and feeling blessed by the opportunity to give life to someone through a bone marrow donation. Often, the process is not much more cumbersome than giving plasma, and they described the chance to donate their bone marrow as a privilege, as something they did not think twice about, as a way to save a person’s life.

Survivors shared information about their journeys, the diagnosis, the chemotherapy, the loving support from friends and family. They talked about working with Icla da Silva and Be the Match on the search for a matching donor, and they smiled about the outcome of a successful transplant.

And then there were the patients, some just beginning their journey, others surviving for longer than expected…all hoping that a matching donor could be found.

Icla da Silva Mix & Match luncheon, April 14, 2018

Some matches are harder to find. Be the Match has is the largest and most diverse bone marrow registry in the world, but it is still not big enough, or diverse enough. The Icla da Silva Foundation focuses on increasing both the size and diversity of the registry. We work to recruit potential donors from all ethnic segments in the hope that more patients will be able to find the match that they need.

You can help us save more lives by completing any combination of the following three actions:

1. Join the registry and add hope to the many patients looking for a matching donor. Please click the link  Join the Registry.
2. If you have the ability to connect and communicate with a group or community organization, we can work with you to schedule a Bone Marrow Drive hosted by you or your group; please enter your information using this link Host a Drive, and someone from the Icla da Silva Foundation will contact you. It only requires a small investment of time, and the promise to gather an interested crowd.
3. The other way to provide support is financially. Even small donations help us to recruit more donors and provide support services to patients in need. We are a 501 (c)(3) and all donations are tax deductible. You can donate using this link Donate Funds.

Please help us continue to keep hope alive.

Thanks!