Bone Marrow Drives Being Held To Help Fort Lee Girl, 12

FORT LEE, N.J. — Two bone marrow drives will be held for a Fort Lee girl who has been battling breast cancer since last year.

Briana Lopez received a bone marrow transplant last year after she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She was declared cancer-free in August. She returned to school and was getting back into a normal routine.

But recently she suffered a relapse that occurs in just 1 percent of patients with her form of leukemia. She needs another bone marrow transplant.

The Lopez family has partnered with the Be The Match Registry for two bone marrow donation drives Feb. 12.

Fort Lee residents 18 to 44 years old may attend and register to see if they are a match for Lopez.
The drives will be at the Fort Lee Recreation Center from noon to 4 p.m. and Park Theater PAC, 560 32nd St. in Union City from 2 to 6 p.m.

RELATED: Fort Lee Cops Raise Thousands Of Dollars To Help Cure Girl, 9, Of Cancer

Members of the community have held fundraisers for Lopez since she was diagnosed last year. The Police Department has sponsored a Zumba marathon and donated thousands of dollars to help Lopez and her family, who have struggled financially since the diagnosis.

Be The Match relies on financial contributions to help over the $100 cost associated with adding each new member to the registry, a press release about the donor drives said. Attendees are asked to donate what they can. Young people of diverse racial and ethnic heritage are in high demand, the release stated.

For more information about Be The Match, visit BeTheMatch.org.

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Briana Lopez in the hospital while being treated for cancer. — Courtesy of the Lopez family