Jewish community seeks match for 9-year-old who needs stem cells

Chicago Tribune reporter Manya Brachear covered 9-year-old Lacey Horwitch’s story. Lacey has a rare blood disorder and her best hope for a cure is a marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. Because the tissue types used for matching patients with donors are inherited, Lacey is most likely to find a matching donor with similar Jewish and Eastern European heritage. Members of Chicago-area synagogues have been organizing countless donor registry drives over the past several months in hopes of finding a match for Lacey.

Although these donor registry drives have not yet led to a match for Lacey, they have led to matches for three other patients. Be The Match recruiter Jennifer Baird was quoted in the article, stressing the importance of being a committed registry member.