Searching for a stem cell donor

A message from Maxine's mom:

I have the privilege of having an incredible 13 year old daughter, Maxine. She is a comedian. She’s funny and silly and makes us all laugh. She says that when she’s older, her partner has to have a sense of humor. She loves all animals… but most especially her golden retriever Newton who is named after Sir Isaac Newton. They are inseparable. Maxine is civic-minded. For the past two years, she has been part of the Junior Fire Fighters. She wants to help put out fires and be of service to people as a first responder. If I had to choose one word to describe Maxine, it would be JOY. She shares her joy openly and generously with everyone around her. Suddenly out of the blue in October, after being in perfect health her entire life, Maxine was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a very rare blood disorder, where her immune system is attacking the stem cells in her bone marrow before they can form red and white blood cells and platelets. Like Leukemia patients, a stem cell or a bone marrow transplant is Maxine’s only cure. Currently, Maxine does not have a matching donor and as I speak to you, Maxine is in a sterile room in the hospital fighting for her life.

A message from Maxine's sister, Morgane:

I am Maxine’s older sister, Morgane. We are half Korean and half French-European. Mixed-race people like me and my sister have an especially difficult time finding a donor. We need people of multi-ethnic backgrounds to join the stem cell and bone marrow donor registry. The more mixed-race Korean and European people join, the greater chance my sister has of finding her life-saving cure. Please help us to make the international registry reflect the beautiful diversity of our planet.