Outreach to find a bone marrow donor for a 3-year-old girl in Florida suffering from leukemia is underway in Central New York. The grandparents of Gianna Lesselroth live in Ithaca and are hoping the right match is found there. Philip O'Driscoll spoke with Gianna's grandmother about the effort.
ITHACA, N.Y. -- "Never give up."
It's the phrase used by anyone who knows fLORIDA 3-year-old Gianna Lesselroth. Gianna has been suffering from leukemia since shortly after her birth, and for a short while she was in remission, but relapsed this past May.
"At that time they were not able to really do much for her in Florida so they flew her to Boston's Children's Hospital where she is still being treated and now she needs a bone marrow transplant," said Waltrud Lucente, Gianna's grandmother.
Gianna's family has been holding bone marrow drives in Florida but no positive match has been found. That is why Lucente, who lives in Ithaca, reached out to her local church to hopefully find a match in this area.
"When we knew that she needed a bone marrow match. It became a really obvious thing that it was something that we could do as a community. We have so many people that love the Lucente family," AnnMarie Eckert, of St. Catherine's of Siena Church said.
And that love has had an impact on social media.
"On Facebook, I have actually gotten a lot of people that wrote we will be coming or I went to a restaurant to have dinner and we saw your posting we will be there we signed up," Lucente said.
Gianna's bone marrow drive will take place at St. Catherines of Sienna Church on August 22-23. There is still room available for donors and volunteers to participate.
"We hope to reach out to many more people. Not only to the family and community of our parish, but also outside our parish," Lucente said.
Those that can't attend the drive are encouraged to order a bone marrow kit online and submit it. It is an alternative way someone can find out if they are a match that could save the life of a 3-year-old who will never give up.