Waiting to meet Sylvia with Steve (Sylvia's friend and LA Sheriff)
1996.....I was a student at CSU Northridge, and one night, I saw a news program that changed me forever. There was a story about a Latina LA County Sheriff in search of a bone marrow donor. Apparently, in order to be a match, you must have the same DNA make, up and the Latino population on the National Marrow Donor registry was very low in donors. I immediately went to the bone marrow drive the following day and didn't get to meet Sylvia, but I met her best friend, Patty. I was on a mission to organize bone marrow drives in her honor and began doing so with the first being done on campus, December 1996.
Meeting Sylvia for the first time
I was a Chicano Studies major and received much support from my department instantly. Dr. Rodolfo Acuña was my professor, mentor, and friend who assisted me greatly in getting the word out to my fellow Latino peers and professors. I started with posting flyers around CSUN, speaking in classrooms about the drive, and then went to the campus newspaper. I didn't want to disappoint Sylvia... I was going to meet her for the first time the day of the drive!!! I contacted local radio station, Power 106FM, and I was booked right away! I went to a local cookie bakery and the owner, Pam, donated individually wrapped heart shaped cookies with ribbon for the first 100 donors. I was determined to pull through for Sylvia.
100 Heart Shaped Cookies for the first 100 people who registered for the National Marrow Donor Program. (Donated by Pam, owner of Cookies by Design in Tarzana)
We had a very successful drive, registering over 300 bone marrow donors to help Sylvia or anyone else in need of a bone marrow transplant. My heart and soul went into trying to save Sylvia and others like her, Latino or not! I connected with Sylvia from the moment I saw her story on television and was overcome with emotion when I met her for the first time. We developed a friendship, and I continued to organize drives in her honor. I was a graduating senior, taking 21 units, working part time, and organizing drives came natural to me. Finding a location, contacting the Red Cross coordinator for dates, getting approval or filing insurance papers, and promoting the drives were all tedious activities!Creating and distributing flyers, contacting newspapers, radio stations, and the overall community was all a part of making a successful drive with high numbers. However, what I found to be most difficult was not organizing nor promoting. Rather, it was educating people about being on a national registry until the age of 65 and being committed to the program for anyone in need. Latinos in need of a bone marrow donor have less chances of acquiring one as opposed to other groups because the ratio of registered Latino donors in relation to other ethnicities tends to be very low . My goal? To register as many Latinos as possible to help as many people as possible! This was just the beginning.......
Baka Boyz from Power 106, supporting!!!
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