English
Spanish
Portuguese
Your donations will help us add more potential life-savers to the Be The Match registry this year.
Even if you were unable to make a financial donation, we wanted to thank you for your continued support.
Every dollar, like, share and mention brings us closer to our goal of saving more lives that are treatable with bone marrow transplants.
You are appreciated.
Icla da Silva is a 501(c)3 organization and your donation is tax deductible.
Wishing you and your family a healthy and happy New Year!
5 Days to Save a Life – Andre’s Bone Marrow Donation Process
It started on a Thursday. By Monday at 1:20 PM, he was finished. He had saved someone’s life by donating his bone marrow.
When Andre Teixeira learned about the challenges facing so many blood cancer patients, he became interested in donating his bone marrow. Every year, more than 14,000 patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma are searching for a bone marrow transplant. For many, there is no matching donor. Not all will survive. Andre just wanted to make a difference. He wanted to help.
Joining the Registry
Andre attended a bone marrow drive run by the Icla da Silva Foundation. The drive took place at the Brazilian consulate in Boston, where he lives. He was a little nervous at first, but he decided to join the Be the Match registry.
At the drive, Andre met Maria Santos. Maria works with us at Icla da Silva. She organizes donor drives and works closely with patients throughout the Boston area who are in search of a life-saving bone marrow donation. She shared some information with Andre and assisted him with the registration process.
Finally Receiving ‘The Call’
Three years after joining the registry, Andre received a call from Be the Match. He was a match for a patient in need. They asked if he wanted to donate his bone marrow and he said “yes”.
Andre thought that by sharing his donation process, he may interest more people to do the same. He insists it was easy to register and painless to donate, and ultimately, he saved someone’s life.
The Donation Process
Be The Match set up an appoint for him to receive a blood test and get a physical. They wanted to ensure that he was physically fit and capable of donating without any risk. He was.
They used a clinic 5 minutes from his house, where he would go to receive a daily injection of filgrastim. Filgrastin increases the blood-producing cells in your blood stream.
He went for his 1st shot on a Thursday. It took 15 minutes.
Andre returned on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to receive his shots. He said he had a little bit of lower back pain on Saturday, but he was fine.
On Monday, he arrived at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. It was a little after 7 AM.
When he first received the call that he was “a match”, he contacted Maria Santos, from Icla da Silva. She had helped him join the registry 3 years ago. She went with Andre to the hospital, to join him for his bone marrow donation.
Andre received his last injection of filgrastim at the hospital on Monday and then began the donation process.
A doctor met with him, thanked him for agreeing to donate his marrow and explained the process. They did a PBSC donation (peripheral blood stem cell). Your blood is removed through a needle in one arm and passed through a machine that will collect only the blood-forming cells. The remaining blood is returned to your body through a needle in the other arm.
He was hooked up to the machine at about 8 AM.
Maria sat with him. They talked, watched TV, eat and drank. Andre insists there was no pain or discomfort.
At 1:20 PM, about 5 hours after they had begun, he was finished. Andre saw the small bag of his marrow (250ml). It would immediately be processed and sent to a patient. His donation would save that patients life.
He was asked to stand up and walk around a bit. They asked if he felt dizzy, or if he had any numbness. He said he felt fine.
The nurses on the floor all clapped for him and sent him home.
Thank You
Andre said the process was easy, and he is excited that he was able to play a role in saving another person’s life.
We are grateful that he joined the registry and said “yes” when he received the call to donate his bone marrow. We are thankful that he has allowed us to share his story with you.
You can make a difference. Everyone can. Someone’s cure may literally be inside you. Please join the bone marrow registry today. You may be a match for someone.
Written by: Bret Itskowitch
Join Us on October 17th and Help Save More Lives
The 2018 Hope Gala takes place on Wednesday, October 17th at 6:30 PM. The dinner and dance is black tie optional and will be held at Guastavino’s, 409 east 59th Street in New York City. The Hope Gala is the largest fundraising event for the Icla da Silva Foundation.
Why Are We Celebrating?
The Hope Gala celebrates our achievements and raises funds to continue our fight against leukemia and other diseases treatable by bone marrow transplants.
Thanks to your support, so far this year, the Icla da Silva Foundation has held 1374 donor recruitment drives across the country. At those drives, we have added 20,246 potentially life-saving donors to the Be the Match bone marrow registry. We aren’t finished yet.
Our focus is to increase awareness, and register more donors who are ethnically diverse. Unfortunately, blood cancer patients who are ethnically diverse, have less than a 50% chance of finding a potential match. We want to change that.
Why Should You Attend?
Your attendance and the resulting donations this year, will help us add greater diversity to the bone marrow registry. A portion of the funds raised, also go towards our Patient Support Services program. The program helps patients and their families deal with some of the financial difficulties when presented with a life threatening blood cancer.
Icla da Silva uses it’s knowledge and experience to guide patient families with information, logistics, and emotional support. With the funds raised last year, we have been able to help patients with transportation, lodging and meals related to their bone marrow transplant and treatment. We have also assisted with HLA typing and medical expenses.
Will We See You This Year?
This years Hope Gala will include more than 300 influential guests from the worlds of business, healthcare, the arts, philanthropy, and academia. The evening promises to be an affair to remember. Please extend an invitation to your friends and associates. Cocktails and a silent auction begin at 6:30PM. Dinner and dancing start at 7:30 PM.
JOIN US IN OUR FIGHT TO HELP MORE PATIENTS
Jefferson Donated His Bone Marrow 10 years Ago
Jefferson Araujo donated his bone marrow 10 years ago. He joined the registry through an Icla da Silva bone marrow drive in Boston, and after he donated, he met his recipient at the Icla da Silva Hope Gala in NYC.
He still supports the foundation by showing up at our events and sharing his story.
Jeffersen gave someone’s life back. He insists “you can’t explain it…it’s a marvelous feeling.” He says he would do it again, 10,000 times. We are grateful he did it once. Thank you Jeffersen, you are truly appreciated.
Rachell Souza was born with severe aplastic anemia. Her only chance to survive was a bone marrow transplant. Her family looked for a compatible donor for five years. Their search finished when Jefferson joined the Be The Match registry in Boston, at one of the Icla da Silva Foundation marrow drives.
Since both Jefferson and Rachell have Brazilian ancestry, Jeffersen was a match for Rachell.
Rachel and Jefferson met in NYC for the first time during our Hope Gala event in 2009. She is now 18, they still keep in touch.
You can make a difference in someone’s life. You could be someones match.
Please join the registry.