The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- July 19, 1999

Cabrini bone-marrow drive prompts huge athlete response

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

When Elizabeth Santorine was diagnosed with juvenile chronic myeloid leukemia (JCML), the news was a blow to the entire athletics and recreation department at Cabrini College.

Elizabeth is the 2-year-old daughter of Joseph Santorine, Cabrini College's director of facilities for athletics and recreation, and his wife Marguerite. Her illness helped bring Cabrini's athletics department -- and its student-athletes -- closer together, but the fight Cabrini helped wage against the disease may help other children and adults as well.

Marrow makes the difference

JCML is an extremely rare form of leukemia, affecting only five children a year in the United States. To survive this devastating disease, little Elizabeth needed a bone-marrow transplant.

Initial screenings of her parents and brothers failed to produce a bone-marrow match, so her name was placed on the national registry of donors. With the hopes of improving Elizabeth's odds for a match, a call was put out to the Cabrini College community to assist in a bone-marrow drive.

The staff of the athletics department, the division of student affairs and the Dixon Center formed a Bone-Marrow Drive Team to coordinate an educational community campaign. (While being tested for marrow donation involves the removal of only a few vials of blood, agreeing to donate marrow involves an educational process to achieve informed consent. If a donor is a match, a small surgical procedure is required to actually remove the marrow.)

Leslie Danehy, Cabrini's senior woman administrator and associate director of athletics, directed the athletics department's efforts in organizing and scheduling student-athletes and coaches to be tested. On the day of the drive, 348 students, faculty, staff and community members participated, with nearly 90 student-athletes taking part.

"To see so many athletes participate in the bone-marrow drive was truly uplifting," Joseph Santorine said.

And just showing up and baring an arm wasn't enough for the Cabrini student-athletes. To offset the costs of the testing, the women's lacrosse team held a raffle and sold flowers at one of the school's formal dances. They also sold hats to support the cause, all the while encouraging everyone they knew to donate.

"All of our spring sport coaches canceled practice so their teams could participate in the bone-marrow drive," Danehy said. "All of the student-athletes felt great about helping the cause for Baby Elizabeth. The whole campus community came together -- it was a great day here."

A personal touch

The week after the drive, the Cabrini men's and women's lacrosse teams visited Elizabeth at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and presented her with a Cabrini College sweatshirt and teddy bear.

The student-athletes also had the chance to visit with other children in the hospital's play area on the oncology ward. They were the most popular visitors the ward had seen in a long, long time.

John Gwiazdowski, a senior men's lacrosse player, made a friend for life. "I got so attached to one little 2-year-old boy, all my teammates jokingly asked if I had hidden him in my jacket to take home with me," he said. "I think he and I bonded because I'm the shortest and smallest guy on my team and he was the smallest kid in the playroom -- even though I'm 21 and he's 2."

A lasting effect

The ultimate effect of all the drives set up on Santorine's behalf was 1,176 new registered bone-marrow donors -- any of whom which may be called upon to save the life of an ill child or adult.

Elizabeth's doctors recently tried to use her mother's bone marrow, which they had previously thought would not match. Cabrini's community is anxiously awaiting the results of her surgery.

In the meantime, Danehy said any donations of baseball caps would be appreciated, as Elizabeth loves hats and her treatments have caused her hair to fall out. Donations may be sent in care of Danehy.

For more information about the National Marrow Donor Program, call 800/627-7692.