Leeward student needs help in battle with leukemia
Star-Bulletin staff
A 19-year-old Leeward Community College student with leukemia is among 6,000 people across the country hoping for a bone marrow donor.
Leilani Emosi of Ewa Beach recently was diagnosed for the third time with leukemia - an aggressive form that requires a bone-marrow transplant to survive.
Family and friends have organized as Friends of Sweet Leilani and will join with the Hawaii Bone Marrow Registry to register potential donors from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Kapolei Shopping Center.
Hawaii's registry has nearly 67,000 names of potential donors, and more than 250 have donated bone marrow since the registry began in 1989.
People with mixed ethnic background are needed as donors because chances of a match are better if the ethnic makeup is similar to the recipient's. In this case, Leilani is Samoan, Caucasian and African-American.
No needles are used in the registration process - just a cotton swab rubbed on the inside of the cheek.
Leilani, first diagnosed with leukemia at age 8, has reached her $1 million maximum lifetime of health care benefits, her family said. So the Friends of Sweet Leilani have teamed with Save-a-Life-Enhance-a-Life Foundation, a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization, to collect donations to help the Emosi family with an estimated $100,000 cost for treatment.
All donations are tax-deductible. They should be made payable to the foundation and mailed to Friends of Sweet Leilani, 590 Farrington Highway, No. 524, P.O. Box 176, Kapolei, HI 96707. First Hawaiian Bank also will accept donations made payable to Save-a-Life-Enhance-a-Life Foundation.
A fundraising event will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Pipeline Cafe, 805 Pohukaina St., Kakaako. Tickets are $25 per person and $20 is tax-deductible.
Tickets may be purchased by calling 349-1459, online at www.SweetLeilani.org or at the door.
Continuous food and live entertainment will be featured, and bone marrow registration will be conducted. A silent auction and door prizes will include neighbor island trips, golf packages, custom artwork, jewelry and many other items. Games and activities will be provided for children.