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Bone Marrow Donor Needed to Save Young Father

Donor Drives Planned for April 30 at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, and May 7 at Community Synagogue in Port Washington. Search is on for those age 18-60 and of Eastern European Jewish decent.

An aggressive search has been launched to find a bone marrow donor to save a young father dying of Leukemia. The family of 32 year old Daniel Brown has joined forces with the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation to run a series of Donor Drives to seek a potential match for this young father of two. There will be a Donor Drive at Central Synagogue in Manhattan on April 30th from 10am-4pm, and at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, Long Island on May 7th from 9am-3pm.

The simple blood test is free of charge and people do not need to make an appointment. Since blood matches have to do with genetics, the most suitable donors are those of Eastern European Jewish decent, ages 18-60.

Daniel Brown has a form of Leukemia known as Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) that has only one possible cure - a bone marrow transplant. A family search has yielded no matches, and since time is of the essence, his family and friends are organizing blood drives up and down the eastern seaboard to find a bone marrow match for Dan - his only hope for survival.

Dan is on a medication that suppresses most of his symptoms, allowing him to lead a semi-normal life for now. The Leukemia cells will, however, regenerate, and Daniel's health will worsen should a donor not be located. Dan's physicians have initiated a search in the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide registry, a database of over 4 million potential donors.

The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, formerly known as Friends of Jay Feinberg, is a not-for-profit bone marrow registry that feeds into Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide, an international collaborative effort for the collection of donor tissue type from 45 registries in 35 countries.

Daniel Brown is the son of long-time New York City residents Jane and Marvin Brown. The Browns raised their three children, Dan, Matt, and Rachel, in Port Washington, Long Island. Dan and his wife Jolie, daughter Jordana (age 3) and son Dustin (age 1) now reside in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Browns hope that the Jewish community will rally together and show its support by attending the drives and encourage other Jewish friends and families to attend. As Jane Brown stated, "I would like to make these blood drives the largest that this area has conducted in years. Not only can you help to save my son's life, but thousands of others afflicted with this disease."

For more information on Dan's illness, family, and this campaign to save his life, visit "http://www.viaduct.com/helpdan" or call 1-800-9-MARROW.