Baseball Hall of Famer seeks Caribbean-Ukrainian donors (02/04/96)

Baseball Hall of Famer seeks Caribbean-Ukrainian donors

by Andrij Wynnyckyj

TORONTO - Since January 10, just over 100 Canadians of mixed Caribbean and Ukrainian origin have called hotlines volunteering to donate bone marrow for leukemia-stricken Michelle Carew, adding to the more than 50,000 who have called throughout North America.

Ms. Carew is the 18-year-old daughter of Rod Carew, the Venezuelan-West Indian Baseball Hall of Famer and now batting coach for the California Angels. His wife Marilynn is of Ukrainian Jewish descent.

The campaign was given impetus in the Toronto area by articles in the local newspapers, notably by Marty York of the Globe and Mail, highlighting the situation.

According to Mr. York's original story, "As of [January 91, there had been no match with any of the more than 3 million volunteers registered worldwide to donate bone marrow." Even Michelle's two elder sisters couldn't provide the necessary match.

Mr. Carew, a prolific hitter and one of the few men to flirt with a .400 season batting average since the 1940s, brought his appeal to Toronto based on its reputation as a tolerant, multicultural city, and on the advice of local entertainment entrepreneur and friend Rose Rosa.

The Carews had helped Ms. Rosa in her own battle with cancer some years ago, and now she hoped to return the favor. "Toronto has not only been a melting pot, but has been full of big hearts, and we've always been quick to run and help people," she told Mr. York.

Mr. York quoted an Associated Press story in which Marilynn Carew spoke about the difficulty in finding matches in the U.S. "A lot of minorities aren't in the donor pool to begin with, let alone someone who's like Michelle," Ms. Carew said.

"In 1970, when we got married, inter racial couples weren't very popular fin the U.S.]. So there aren't too many products of those marriages old enough [al least 18] to be a donor," Ms. Carew added.

Ms. Rosa related, in another article, that a man from Etobicoke (a suburb of Toronto) called to say there were-three black-Ukrainian families with Jewish background at his church. "He said he intended to ask them to get tested," Ms Rosa told Mr. York.

Mr. York wrote that Mr. Carew is now spearheading a drive to right the imbalance in the bone-marrow donor pool of ethnic minorities, including blacks "Surprising matches show up in the genetic melting pot," Mr. York wrote. "so Carew is encouraging everyone to volunteer for testing."

Contacted by The Weekly on January 24, Andrea Pronk, a media relations official at the Children's Hospital of Orange County, California, said an exact match for Ms. Carew has yet to be found, and encouraged all potential donors to call in.

Additional information can be obtained by calling Ms. Rosa at Entertainment Management International, (905) 4305995; the Canadian Red Cross bone marrow registry, 1 (800) 668-2866, and the Children's Hospital in California, (714) 997-3000.

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