NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Be the Match and the Icla da Silva Foundation will hold a drive-through bone marrow donor registry event at Elm City Montessori School & Friends Center for Children on Saturday, January 23, 2021 from 10am - 2pm.
The event is being held to find a donor for Jackie Erb, the 5-year-old niece of New Haven residents Dr. Christopher Erb (Yale) & Kimberly Garley-Erb and Emily Erb.
Jackie has been diagnosed with JMML, a rare form of leukemia; a bone marrow donor match is the only cure.
“We hope our New Haven community and neighbors will come out to help find a match,” the family said. “Jackie’s cousins, Madeleine and Emerson, love Jackie and her sisters beyond words. We are doing everything we can to help.”
If you'd like to help:
Elm City Montessori School & Friends Center
495 Blake Street (Enter from Valley Street) New Haven, CT 06515
Saturday, January 23, 2021 10am-2pm
For those who want to participate but cannot attend, test kits are available for home delivery upon request from Be the Match.
There are two ways to access a kit:
1) Go to http://join.bethematch.org/Match4Jackie and register.
2) Text match4jackie (all one word) to 61474. In-person screening is preferable due to the urgent timeline and the short window in Jackie’s treatment plan during which the marrow donation can take place.
If you are unable to join the registry, but you still want to support the family, a Go Fund Me page has been set up for donations.