Adriana Aboumrad
Adriana Aboumrad held a canned food drive to help feed hungry families in her community over the holidays. She also baked cookies to thank the people who donated blood through a Girl Scout blood drive in November. What's particularly amazing about Adriana is not that she is just 10 years old and she is so caring—it's that Adriana is doing all of this while she battles leukemia. Adriana was diagnosed with a form of leukemia called APL in April 2000. APL stands for acute promyelocytic leukemia, a subtype of leukemia. Approximately 50 children and 1,000 adults throughout the U.S. are diagnosed with APL each year. With treatment, about 75 percent to 80 percent are expected to be long-term survivors.
Adriana received a bone marrow transplant in 2001 as a hope for a cure. Leanne Aboumrad, Adriana's mother, says that they were blessed by having two donor matches, Reena and Anthony, Adriana's sister and brother. Blessed indeed—70% of patients in need of a bone marrow transplant do not have a suitable family donor. Reena was selected as the donor for the bone marrow transplant.
A bone marrow transplant also requires blood and lots of it. A patient receiving a bone marrow transplant usually needs 1 to 2 units of red blood cells every other day for 2 to 4 weeks as well as 6 to 8 units of platelets daily for 6 to 8 weeks. Leanne says it is the community of blood donors who really helped Adriana get through her surgery and recovery.
Unfortunately, Adriana had a recurrence of the disease following the bone marrow transplant. It took about a year for her to go into remission, so she could receive a T-cell transplant in 2003. This time, her brother Anthony was the donor. This means Adriana needed more help from blood donors. Her mom said she has lost track of the number of times Adriana received blood transfusions. "If I held a thank you party for Adriana's donors, I don't think that they would fit in my house."
Adriana is home from the hospital now and returned to school in the fall of 2004 after two years out. She actually conducted her canned food drive while she was in the hospital. She says doing good deeds for others has been a part of her recovery process, a type of therapy.