Thanks to all who came out and celebrated with us again this year! All told we ate 18 feet of sandwich, 300 wings, endless chips and dips, drank two plus kegs of beer and raised close to $4,000 to beat blood cancers.  That is awesome.

As you may have already learned from reading this and that, my brother was my inspiration for the Brooklyn Landsharks.  My friend Laura recently forwarded the story of two sisters, Erica and Jaci, and their struggles with Erica’s leukemia.

Erica was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2006.  She received a bone marrow transplant, but still in April 2008, she experienced a relapse.  She never recovered and passed away at the end of 2008.

The blog chronicles Erica’s struggle.  You can gain a glimpse into the wonderful woman she was.  And what potential was snuffed too early.

One of the goals of the blog is to encourage people to sign-up for the bone marrow registry.  Especially among minority communities.  Currently, there are about 7 million people signed up for the bone marrow registry (that’s a good start), but 97% of them are white.  As race and ethnicity are important characteristics in finding bone marrow matches, we need more diversity in the registry.  You can sign-up for the registry here.  As bone marrow transplants are the key to curing many of the forms of leukemia and lymphoma (including my brothers), I cannot stress registration enough.  You will need to fill out a questionnaire and then they will send you a kit to your home so you can be added to the registry.

Here’s a song that Erica and Jaci wrote (with the help of the Barenaked Ladies) to inspire others to join the registry: If I Had a Donor