Woman Rihanna helped finds donor (AP)
51 minutes ago
NEW YORK - A leukemia patient in dire need of a bone marrow transplant has found a donor after Grammy Award-winning singer Rihanna publicized her case, People magazine reported.| ADVERTISEMENT |
“The English language does not have words that are adequate to thank someone for working to save your life,” Lisa Gershowitz Flynn, of New York City, wrote in an e-mail to supporters Thursday, People.com reported.
Flynn, a 41-year-old lawyer and mother of two small children, was diagnosed in November 2007 with acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. People.com said last month that doctors had told Flynn she needed to find a marrow donor within four to six weeks.
Rihanna had done previous work with DKMS, an international donor network based in Tubingen, Germany. “When I heard about Lisa’s plight, my heart broke,” the 20-year-old singer told the magazine last month.
Rihanna’s campaign to help Flynn sparked more than 5,000 calls and e-mails to DKMS, and about 2,000 new donors have registered, executive vice president Katharina Harf said.
It wasn’t clear how or when Flynn’s 32-year-old donor registered with the organization. Flynn has said she was touched by Rihanna’s efforts.
Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, and Jay-Z won a Grammy last month in the rap/sung collaboration category, for her hit “Umbrella.” She was recently named an honorary cultural ambassador for her native Barbados.
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On the Net:
People: http://www.people.com
DKMS: http://www.dkmsamericas.org/
