Glendale Memorial to Host Bone Marrow Recruitment Drive for 4-Year Old Charlotte

GLENDALE, CA–Glendale Memorial Hospital and the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) are teaming up for a donor recruitment drive, Wednesday, April 7 from 5 – 8 p.m. in the Glendale Memorial Main Auditorium (1420 S. Central Ave.).

The drive is dedicated to finding a potential donor match for four-year-old Charlotte, who is in critical need of a bone marrow transplant. It will also benefit other recipients if matches are found. Several Bay Area churches have already taken part in the nationwide effort to find a bone marrow match for 4-year-old girl Charlotte Conybear, joining together for an Easter registration drive earlier this month.

Charlotte and her parents live in the Philadelphia area where doctors have been searching for a bone marrow match for her since last year. Charlotte is part Armenian, an ethnic group with distinct DNA features.

“Charlotte has aplastic anemia, a very severe blood disorder, and it is extremely urgent that we find a match for her,” says Frieda Jordan, Ph.D., president of ABMDR. “The process is simple—just an application and a quick swab—so we are urging as many people as possible to become a part of the registry. This is so important to children like Charlotte and other children and adults who are in need of bone marrow transplants.”

Due to the unique genetic makeup of Armenians, it is nearly impossible to find suitable matches among the existing international registries, and hence a great number of Armenian children and adults have lost their lives due to the lack of compatible donors. To address this imbalance, a volunteer donor registry for bone marrow transplant has been established in Armenia, which will help to overcome this difficulty.