Community Corner

Smiles4Shira Bone Marrow Drive Returns to South Brunswick

Smiles4Shira has swabbed over 11,000 people who are now in the National Bone Marrow Registry.

By Kaitlyn Anness

Shira Klein of Marlboro burst into our lives with a smile, and a story that has helped thousands around the country.

One year later, Smiles4Shira, a non-profit organization dedicated to sponsoring bone marrow donor drives across America through social media and grassroots efforts, has facilitated the swabbing of over 11,000 potential donors and raised over $150,000 for donor kits. 

Klein, mother of three young children, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2010. Now, after several health scares which prompted the creation of Smiles4Shira, Shira is doing well after receiving a transplant from her mother and a donated cord blood this past spring.

Across the country, 51 patients have found a bone marrow match because of Smiles4Shira efforts.

South Brunswick Township immediately rallied around the cause as a flood of hopeful stem cell matches for Klein poured into the Dance on Q studio in South Brunswick last year. A bake sale and raffle raised $2,300, which will be donated directly to DMKS, the largest bone marrow center in the world, to help offset the cost of processing each swab and entering it into the database. 

Now, through the power of social media, the journey continues.

In 2012, after Shira's sister's stem cells did not match and no matches were found for Shira in the worldwide database, her husband Justin wrote a letter to the community on Patch asking everyone and anyone to help save his wife.

"I am asking you all to test yourself to see if you are a match for Shira - and if not, your efforts may just help someone else's mom, daughter or friend who like Shira is fighting every day," Justin wrote.

Smiles4Shira was born in September, 2012 as an organization to help fund swabs, which cost $65 each to process, and encourage donor drives in order to help find Shira and others battling blood cancer stem cell and marrow matches.

Drives are still scheduled in the area. To stay up-to-date on how you can help, or to attend a drive near you, follow Smiles4Shira on Facebook.

Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

How to help

Smiles4Shira will join with Amato's Garden Center at 47 Deans Rhode Hall Road and Route 130 in Monmouth Junction in hosting a drive on Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Becoming a registered bone marrow or stem cell transplant donor is easy, and the donation process is not as painful as many believe, according to National Marrow Donor Program.

"You swab your cheek. If you are lucky enough to be someone's life saving donor the next step is as simple as giving blood,” said Krista Coppola, who saved donated stem cells to save her sister, Meghan Rizzo’s life, after a leukemia diagnosis. “Their hope and life is in the hands of those of you who are generous enough to save them."

The Klein family is working with DKMS, an international organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer and registering marrow and stem cell donors around the world.

The most common way to donate healthy stem cells is through a procedure called Peripheral Blood Cell Donation, which means the donor does not undergo surgery but instead receives injections over just a few days to increase healthy cell production.

The donation is performed much like a transfusion, a simple procedure of sitting down and donating blood.

While PBCD is most common today, many people are familiar with marrow donation, where marrow is extracted from the hip bone of a donor, a procedure that has vastly improved over the years.

It is important to note that if called as a match, donors will not know the patient they are donating stem cells or marrow to until one year has passed. At that time, both parties may agree to meet.

Volunteers for Smiles4Shira may be separated by miles, but they are tightly bound by a hopeful determination to keep a Marlboro Township mother smiling for her three children.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here