500 attend Youngstown benefit for bone-marrow transplants

500 attend Youngstown benefit for bone-marrow transplants

JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

People, music, food and games filled the Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana Banquet Hall on Shirley Road on Sunday.

The atmosphere was that of a party or celebration, but the ultimate goal was to save the life of 66-year-old Chris Gonzalez and possibly countless others in need of a bone-marrow transplant.

Gonzalez, of Campbell, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in January and needs a bone-marrow transplant.

The event Sunday was an effort to find a matching donor for a bone-marrow transplant and register more people in the minority community as bone-marrow donors.

Tonya Davis, of the National Marrow Donor Program, said people in need like Gonzalez are most likely to match someone of their own race and ethnicity. She said of the 10 million registered donors, few are Hispanic.

About 500 people attended the event.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.