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View Winners → Bone Marrow Donor Sought for El Monte Resident Alexandrea Vizcarra, 19
Arcadia Weekly Jul 31, 2012
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Family, friends, celebrities and the City of El Monte are looking for bone marrow donors for 19-year-old Alexandrea Vizcarra, a City resident who is stricken with a recurrence of leukemia and needs bone marrow to survive.
No one in her family is a match and neither is anyone on the national bone marrow registry, known as the Be the Match Foundation. The family is reaching out to the public for help.
There will be a blood drive and bone marrow registration for Vizcarra at the last City of El Monte “Rockin’ Wednesday” Summer Concert at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 1 at Tony Arceo Memorial Park. Hector Dominguez will perform his popular mariachi and Mexican ranchero music.
The El Monte Police Department “National Night Out” will also take place. Arceo Park is located at 3125 N. Tyler Avenue, El Monte.
Residents are asked to visit the bone marrow registration booth during the events that will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A similar drive took place at the July 25 concert.
“Registering with Be the Match is a small thing that can mean everything for someone living with leukemia, lymphoma or other deadly blood disorders,” El Monte City Councilwoman Victoria “Vicky” Martinez said. “I hope that residents from across El Monte come out and register to help Alexandrea and thousands of people across the country with a gift of the future.”
The Councilwoman added that another goal of the drive would be to educate residents about the bone marrow process.
“It’s not an invasive procedure – no blood is drawn,” Martinez said. “It’s painless and what a blessing it would be to save a life!”
Actor Nick Gonzales spends time visiting the patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where Vizcarra is calling home for now.
“It’s so simple with bone marrow registration. It’s literally a cotton swab in your cheek,” said Gonzales, who’s become a friend of Alexandrea.
Vizcarra, the daughter of Isaac and Dottie Vizcarra, and other patients at the hospital also received a visit from celebrities Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Potential donors can also learn if they’re a match without visiting a bone marrow drive event. The National Marrow Donor Program will send a cotton swab kit to those interested in being a match for a patient. Go to marrow.org or swabplusdna.org for more information.
