POMONA : Blacks Asked to Donate Bone Marrow for Girl

American Red Cross officials have issued a plea for African Americans to volunteer as potential bone marrow donors to save the life of a 4-year-old Pomona girl suffering from a rare blood disease.

A marrow drive will be conducted in Pomona throughout the weekend at the Los Angeles County Fair and at a local church in hopes of finding a matching donor for the youngster, a black girl who was diagnosed two years ago as having a degenerative genetic disease called mucopoly saccharidosis, said Jackie Ramirez, a Red Cross senior recruiter.

Officials said potential donors have been particularly difficult to identify because African Americans account for only about 5% of the more than 1 million donors registered in the National Marrow Donor Program. The chances of finding a matching donor are greatest within a similar ethnic group.

The marrow donor testing will be conducted Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Club House I at the County Fairgrounds, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., and on Sunday from 1:15 to 4 p.m. at Macedonia Baptist Church, 710 S. Hamilton St. Additional information is available by calling the Marrow Donor Program at (800) MARROW-2.