Mother of Two is Fighting for Her Life

Lisa Gershowitz Flynn has an aggressive form of Acute Myelogeneous Leukemia and needs a Marrow Transplant to Help Save her Life

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. February 20, 2008. Imagine having everything to live for - two beautiful children, a loving husband, loyal friends and a job you love - and then finding out in a blink of an eye that you are suffering from a type of blood cancer and your only chance for survival is a marrow transplant from a complete stranger. This is what Lisa Gershowitz Flynn is faced with.

Lisa, a 41 year old mother of two young children, Michael, 5 and Alexandra, 3, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Acute Myelogeneous Leukemia (AML) the day after Thanksgiving, on her daughter’s birthday. Once diagnosed, she was immediately hospitalized and has gone through several rounds of intensive chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the treatments have not been successful and she is not in full remission. It is now critical for Lisa to have a marrow transplant. Finding a donor match is the only thing that will save her life. A donor of Ashenzai or Eastern European Jewish descent would benefit Lisa.

Hundreds of New York City mothers who learned about Lisa are joining forces, sending out e-mails and organizing donor drives in Lisa’s honor.

“The outpouring of support has been truly amazing,” said Katharina Harf, co-founder of DKMS Americas. “Thousands of people from communities across the country have already mobilized to help save Lisa’s life. We are asking others to join this movement by registering with us as a marrow donor. You can be the one to say: “I saved a life.”

“I think more people would donate if they knew how easy it was,” Flynn said. “It’s kind of a stupid way to die {waiting for a donor.]”

Registration and Donation Process
The registration process is easy, painless and takes only a few minutes of your time. With a simple cheek swab, your cells are collected and tested for their DNA tissue-type. Within 3 to 4 weeks your results will be placed on the national registry, a database where medical professionals search daily to find a match for any patient looking for a life-saving donor. To find out if you may be a candidate to register, read our: eligibility requirements.
If you are identified as a matching donor, some additional testing is done and then the actual collection of marrow takes place. There are two ways, both outpatient procedures, to give life.

80% of the time the cells needed for the transplant are collected via the blood stream (PBSC). The donor gives blood through one arm, the needed cell are filtered by an aphaeresis machine and then the blood is returned through the other arm.

20% of the time the cells are collected directly from the marrow of the bone. The donor is given anesthesia for comfort and a needle extracts the cells from the back of the pelvic bone. Both procedures are out patient.

Please call DKMS toll free at 1.866.340.DKMS (3567) or e-mail to request a donor kit be sent to your home by mail.

About DKMS
DKMS was founded in 1991 by Peter Harf and Professor Dr. Gerhard Ehninger, after Peter lost his wife, Mechtild, to acute leukemia. Today, DKMS is the world’s largest marrow donor center with over 1.6 million registered donors making. Since its founding, DKMS has facilitated nearly 13,000 transplants.

In 2005, Peter, together with his daughter, Katharina opened an office in New York City to diversify its donor pool, by registering more donors in the U.S.

DKMS Americas is a 501(c) (3) non profit organization. All donors recruited by DKMS and DKMS Americas will be placed on the National Registry (NMDP).