(I'm on holiday until the end of the month and just wanted to repeat this story about Mandi Schwartz posted on the Star website last month in the hope people will consider trying to help her in her fight. More information can be obtained at becomemandishero.org and onematch.ca)
The gesture was so subtle that some of Mandi Schwartz's teammates didn't even notice it at first.
When the Yale University Bulldogs lined up for pre-game introductions this season, they left Schwartz's customary spot on the ice empty as she battled leukemia back in Regina.
“Some of us didn't even know they were doing it,” said goaltender Jackee Snikeris. “It was a quiet thing that represented how much we still care for her and want her back.”
The 22-year-old Schwartz desperately needs a stem cell transplant to save her life. It's made even more difficult in her case because she's of mixed ancestry (Russian/German/Ukranian) and researchers have yet to find her a 10-out-of-10 DNA match. A worldwide campaign called “Become Mandi's Hero” is underway (becomemandishero.org) to find a perfect match.
Dr. Tedd Collins, a clinical immunologist who lost his daugher, Natasha, to leukemia last August and is an advocate for the Schwartz family, said the best chance for a match is blood from an umbilical cord. He has Schwartz's teammates contacting media outlets and ob-gyn offices in U.S cities with the heaviest concentration of ethnic backgrounds matching that of Schwartz, who has acute myeloid leukemia.
Collins said they need to do a transplant within the next 30 to 45 days in order for her to survive.
“Mandi's very bright. She knows what's going on,” said Collins.“That's a horrible feeling. She knows what happened to Natasha, which is even worse. She knows. And I hate that she knows.”
Schwartz (pictured above with Hayley Wickenheiser) learned June 9 that the cancer is in remission, but is still undergoing chemotherapy in Regina to keep the disease at bay while the donor hunt proceeds. She was originally diagnosed in December 2008 and was able to return to school and her team last year after the initial round of chemotherapy, but the leukemia came back last December.
She recently got engaged to Kaylem Prefontaine, her high school sweetheart at Notre Dame College in her native Wilcox, Sask, where her picture is on a Wall of Fame with the likes of NHL greats Vincent Lecavalier and Curtis Joseph.
It should be a time of celebration for the Schwartz family as younger brother Jaden is touted as a second-round pick in the upcoming NHL draft in Los Angeles (He was picked 14th by St. Louis). Their parents, Carol and Rick, are hoping to be there, but will make a last-minute decision depending on Mandi's health.
In the meantime, Jaden is doing his part to help his sister's cause.
“As soon as she relapsed, we explained to Jaden 'You're probably going to be known as the boy in the draft whose sister has leukemia,'” said Carol. “He didn't have any issues with that. … It's been great because I think we've reached a whole bunch of people through his interviews.”
Among those also helping raise awareness is Team Canada women's captain Hayley Wickenheiser, who first met Schwartz about seven years ago.
“There is no doubt Mandi is sick and in need of help, but I think she sees her life past the cancer and with her future husband one day, and that tells me she's a fighter and we should fight for her as well,” said Wickenheiser.
Schwartz's resolve is undeniable. During the initial chemotherapy, she was still skating after each round finished.
“I just went on the ice at every chance I could,” said Schwartz in a telephone interview. “It was amazing. It just encouraged me for the next time I went in the hospital.”
That's no longer possible, but even in Regina this week she asked that a stationary bike be brought to her hospital room so she could do a light workout. She's still feeling the effects of a bout of pneumonia that left her with fluid in her lungs during her last round of chemotherapy and had her hooked up to tubes in the Intensive Care Unit.
Her voice is weak, her sentences are interrupted by coughing, but she remains every ounce the fighter she's always been on the ice.
“I concentrate on getting better at the moment,” she said. “That's my goal and I focus on that and not the negatives. I work on overcoming all the obstacles I have to go through while at the hospital.”
One of the shortest players on the team at 5-foot-5, Schwartz is a gritty in-your-face forward, a quiet leader revered by her teammates. They're devastated by what she is going through, but working as a team with Collins to find her a donor. Players from other teams have also joined them.
“She's so selfless and never asks anything of you,” said Snikeris. “I think that's part of the reason why everyone's got behind her because she's that kind of person and player.”
Collins believes a transplant using stem cells from cord blood is probably her only hope. He said more than 10,000 potential new bone marrow donors for Mandi have come forward through the campaigns launched but there have been no matches. He believes they'd need to get a pool of 100,000 new blood marrow donors to even have a shot.
“Cord blood, on the other hand, does not have to be as perfectly matched not to hurt Mandi but still gives the same upside,” said Collins.
There is a possible 9-out-of-10 bone marrow match in Germany for Schwartz, but Collins said that can still be very problematic. His daughter Natasha died after getting a transplant from a 9-out-of-10 bone marrow match.
Collins said their search has reached beyond North America to Germany, England and Israel. The goal is to collect cord blood from 200 people with her ethnic background and come up with at least two partial matches.
He said more than 50 pregnant women have sent in the form agreeing to donate their cord blood so far. He said they have collected blood from 12 donors and there are another eight women signed up who are expected to deliver their babies in the next week.
“One woman's in labour right now and she just called me to ask if there's anything else she can do,” Collins said. “It's really been like that. People have been touched by this campaign and realize they can save her life, so they're fighting to make this happen. An expectant mother can take something they might otherwise throw away and donate it and help save Mandi's life.”
The Schwartz family was buoyed by some recent good news for another young hockey player from Saskatchewan suffering from the same disease. Luke Boechler, a 19-year-old goalie with the Yorkton Terriers, was scheduled to go for a bone marrow transplant with an unmatched donor, but at the last minute a perfect match was found.
“We're holding out hope that we'll be in those shoes as well, that something's going to come up real soon for her,” said Carol Schwartz.
For more information, you can visit becomemandishero.org
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