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Fourteen-year-old Jesse Spina of
New City has Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Though Spina’s cancer,
from which he’s been suffering for the past three years, isn’t curable by a
bone marrow transplant, two of his friends, Sean Hanna and Nicole Gioia,
represent thousands of children who suffer from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer
of the blood, which can be treated by bone marrow transplant.
A blood drive was held last month to try to attract more people to enter the
National Marrow Donor Program. And a benefit car show, held by the Rockland
Rodders in Spina’s honor, will be held on Saturday, May 15, from 9 a.m.
until 3 p.m. (rain date Sunday, May 16) at Clarkstown High School South in
Bardonia.
The event will serve to provide information about the importance of being a
bone marrow donor, as well as to raise money to help the Spina family with
medical expenses.
Cheryl Papasso is a marrow donation recruitment officer for the HLA
registry, said, “we test people and add them to a registry to see if any of
the patients who need a bone marrow transplant match up with them. All we
need is one vial of blood to test them. There are already five million
people in the registry, but still thousands of patients, who don’t have a
match for the bone marrow that they need. We’re trying to increase those
odds.”
Marian Spina, Jesse’s mother, said, “bone marrow transplant is something
that Jesse can’t benefit from, but he has friends who can benefit from it.
We’re working to expand the HLA registry.”
Spina said, “Jesse is 14; he would be an eighth grader at Felix Festa Middle
School if he were well enough. He’s undergoing blood and platelet
transfusions at Sloan Kettering, but there really is no treatment for him.
In fact, he’s exhausted all known treatments for Ewing’s Sarcoma. We hope to
go through experimental chemotherapy if his counts come back up to where he
could handle chemotherapy ... right now, his counts are just too low to do
the chemo.”
Spina said, “even though Jesse can’t benefit from a bone marrow transplant,
I like to be active with the cause to help his friends. Over the course of
Jesse’s treatment, I’ve met these kids and become friends with their
parents. Besides, this is a way to keep myself..
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Blood marrow donors
desperately needed
by Heather Baughman
Managing Editor
Rockland County Times
Marion Spina of New City and Denise Gioia are both working to increase the
number of donors on the bone marrow donor registry. Both women have children
with cancer. Spina’s son Jesse, 14, can’t benefit from a bone marrow
transplant, but Gioia’s daughter, Nicole, 12, can.
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