Recipient: Akiim DeShay
The results came back, it was Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The Oncologist said I probably had it for 6 months and I did not have much time to live unless we started Chemotherapy right away. I was given a few choices of doctors and hospitals to receive treatment but I chose to go with her because she was referred to me by the praying doctor in the ER.
I went home for two days before treatment. I prayed that god would take care of my family while I was gone. I would be undergoing treatment in another hospital for about a month. Read more...
Jasmina Anema - A Miracle and a Savior
6yr old Jasmina of New York City was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia on January 20th, 2009. Her doctors immediately determined her only chance for survival is a bone marrow transplant but she did not have a match. Because of great media attention, more than 10,000 African Americans joined the marrow registry through DKMSamericas.org and two matches were found in a matter of months. She had her transplant on June 11th and is currently in recovery. oneforjasmina.com
UPDATE: Sad news, Jasmina passed away on January 27th, 2010. There is more to this story and I promise to elaborate soon.
Parish Grimes (1963 ~ 2006)
Parish was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2004. She needed a transplant but was told she had no match. Determined to fight, she organized three bone marrow drives and registered at least 250 African Americans.
Sadly a match was never found for her and she passed away at age 42 March 27, 2006 leaving behind her husband and three young children. Read more about Parish Grimes...
Ashante Sloan
"God has blessed me with the possibility to receive the marrow transplant I need to possibly cure my disease and save my life. This is truly a miracle when you take into consideration that 83% of African American/Black patients who need a transplant do not receive one."
Ashonte was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia in October 2008. It was determined that she will need a Marrow transplant to survive. With no perfect match in her family or on the registry she has held four marrow drives and recruited hundreds to the registry. "I am on fire about helping
others who need transplants." she says. She is dedicated to continue to help add more people to the registry so she can help others. Due to the urgency of her condition, doctors went ahead with the transplant using a donor that was not a perfect match. Currently she at home recovering from the procedure and is doing well. Updates are (here) and Watch her on youtube .
Ajani’s Story
In Nigeria, “Ajani” means “he who wins the struggle.” In Roanoke, Virginia, it means the same thing. Ajani was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago at age two. His doctor gave him three months to life, unless he got an unrelated umbilical cord blood transplant. Fortunately, a matching cord blood unit was found, thanks to another family’s generous decision to donate their baby’s’ cord blood to a public cord blood bank.
Ajani received his transplant at Duke University Hospital, and his mother Risa has been trying to keep up with him ever since. This is no small task, since Ajani’s motor is always running. He enjoys riding his bike, playing ball of any kind, listening to music and competing with his cousins in just about anything
“No question, the transplant saved my son’s life,” says Risa. “I thought I appreciated him before, but after all he’s gone through, I appreciate him even more now.” In Edo, one of the languages of Nigeria, Ajani means “he who wins the struggle.” Ajani is living up to his name in every way.
Also in memory of...
Terrell Wilson, 21 from Orlando, FL sadley passed away on Christmas Morning 2009 from Leukemia. This big Orlando Majic fan received calls, visits, and gifts from Orlando Majic current and former players on his birthday while in the hospital in July. Unfortunately, he was not able to receive a life saving transplant because he did not have a match.
Eunique M. Darby, 15, of Syracuse NY passed away November 2008. After battling Leukemia for years she finally found a match but her transplant was canceled due to complications with the donor. Another match was found 4 months later but sadly she passed away a few months after transplant.
Edward Swain, 19 died two days before Eunique in the same hospital. Both teens had been waiting for a match and together helped raise awareness in the Syracuse area for the need to register African Americans. Edward also finally found a match, but sadly it was too late for him as well. Although a transplant is never a guaranteed cure, the longer a patient is on the waiting list the lower the chance of survival once they receive the transplant. That's why its imperative to have matches for everyone before hand
LaMonica Molette was 21yrs old and diagnosed with Leukemia (AML). Her Brother was a match but was murdered the day before her transplant. She had no match on the marrow registry and passed away. Her dying wish was to keep drives going for other people to possibly find matches that her church has held annually since. Watch her touching video here...
Pastor Royal preacher of a Dallas, Texas Baptist Church fought a long hard battle against Leukemia. I (Akiim DeShay) first became involved with the movement at a drive for Pastor Royal. A year later he was still searching for a donor. There was another drive scheduled in his name, but unfortunately he passed away days before the drive and after two years of searching for a match.
Saved By A Transplant
Passed Away and Will be Missed
Ashalond Daniel,
aka Mela, 29 of Mississippi, was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic AnemiaIn in April 2009 , a rare bone marrow disease. The Univ of Mississippi graduate is currently in need of a Bone Marrow Donor.
Presently there are no matches in the Be The Match Registry(sm) . In the coming weeks, Ashalond will return to Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, Maryland, to undergo a series of High-Dose Cyclophosphamide treatments, in hopes of being cured.
UPDATE: Mela has been doing well dispite not having had a transplant and has even started working again.
Jennifer Jones Austin
of Brooklyn, NY Jennifer Jones Austin is 41, a wife and mother of two children, ages 12 and 7. She is suffering from Leukemia, and is in an immediate need of a bone marrow transplant. Without a bone marrow transplant, doctors have indicated that her chances of survival are slim. There are several marrow drives scheduled in 4 states, see the dates and times on her web site.
UPDATE: Jennifer received a partially matched transplant from umbillical cord blood of Feburary 24th, 2010 and is doing well. Efforts from her, family, and loved ones have produced more than 11,000 mostly minority donors added to the registry.
Seun Adebiyi
just graduated from Yale Law School and is trying to make history as the first Nigerian delegate to compete in the Winter Olympics.
To succeed he will have find a donor for a bone marrow transplant. Knowing he has no match on the registry he has been very active recruiting donors. He his goal is to sign up 10,000 new donors to the registry and he has already signed more than 2,000.
UPDATE: Seun received a transplant from partially matched unbillical cord blood on Februrary 11th, 2010 and is currently in recovery.
Harold “Maurice” Broadwater,
of Syracuse NY, a loving husband and father of two who is battling Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Maurice’s only chance for survival is a marrow transplant, but there are currently no matches for him on the donor registry. Maurice enjoys playing chess, watching football with his friends and loves to travel with his family. But now, this life-threatening disease has interrupted his life.
Jordan Culbreath,
an all-Ivy League running back, team captain, and mechanical and aerospace engineering major at Princeton University was diagnosed with aplastic anemia in October 2009.
The first treatment option was finding a bone marrow donor, however Jordan's ethnicity is a complicating factor in finding a match. His father is African-American. His mother is part Japanese, part German-Irish. That limits his pool of potential donors. His 25-year-old sister, was not a match.
therefore he is going through with the second option which involves suppressing my immune system and allowing my bone marrow to hopefully recover.
De'Sha Woods
De’Sha Woods, a teenager from Cottage Hills, Illinois was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. De’Sha enjoyed a brief time in remission after rounds of Chemotherapy and radiation but the cancer returned. The first potential donor was a perfect match. However, when it was time to give the bone marrow, the donor declined.
As heart-breaking as it was to find a match then lose it, De’Sha was blessed with a second donor. She eventually received a transplant from a second match who was not perfect, but considered a close match (five out of six). Perfectly matched transplants have a higher prognosis and fewer expected complications.
De’Sha was active in encouraging people to register for the registry. In 2008 she was one of the faces for the National Marrow Donor Registry as a national poster model for the NMDP ‘Be the One’ and the ‘Thanks Mom!’ campaigns. Sadly due to a complication from her transplant called GVHD she passed away on Labor Day 2009.
Karen Drayden from Dallas Texas, a 25 year veteran of the United States Postal Service. In early 2009 she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. After initial chemotherapy and a relapse, it was determined that her best chances of survival would be a bone marrow transplant. With out a matching sibling it was an extra hard blow to find out there was no one on the registry who matched her tissue type.
I met Karen in the hospital where she asked me to speak to her co-workers and that although she knew her chances of survival where not good, she wanted to make a difference for others who are facing the same grim prognosis.
After several more months of chemotherapy and a couple of relapses a partial umbilical cord match was found for her. However it was determined that the levels of leukemia cells were too high for her to undergo the procedure. Karen says “I am truly sick and this illness is winning but I am trying all I can so that doctors can learn more and help the next resistant patient and it saddens me” (Jan 15, 2010). Those would be her last words to me, she passed away two weeks later on January 28th. I told her I would tell her story.
Samuel G Roberson Jr
Sam was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 8. Then he was told his best chances for survival were to have a bone marrow transplant however he did not have a match. Chemotherapy eventually put him into remission, but he relapsed two years later and still had no match on the registry.
Sam say's " I never found a match but by God’s grace, an experimental transplant from myself worked and I am still here today. The pure miracle of my survival has inspired me to dedicate a large part of my life to making sure patients don’t have to go through the same thing as my family and I." In 2009 he launched The Make Me A Match Project to help save the lives of patients suffering from Leukemia and other blood related diseases.
Lamar Adams
In 2003 seventeen year old Bronx, New York native Lamar went for a physical so he could play high school basketball but was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia(CML). Through the "Be The Match" resistry he would find an anonymous match more than 300 miles away in Rochester, New York where city councilman Adam Mcfadden lived. Because of program rules the two had to wait at least a year to meet and they have been close ever since.
Cornelius Jones
In 1986 Cornelius was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia while still in high school. He received a bone marrow transplant from his brother and is now cured
Cornelius lives in Houston TX and has appeared in the media regarding survivorship and issues with living post bone marrow transplant.
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