May 04, 2010
St. John’s Alumnus Reaches Out to School
for Help for Family Member with AML
The St. John’s University Office of Community Relations hosted a
bone marrow registry and blood donor drive on April 29 in the
University Center Commons. St. John’s students, faculty and
community members were participants in what was the final blood
drive offered this semester on the Queens campus.
In addition to giving blood, donors had the chance to join the
National Bone Marrow Registry by providing a mouth tissue sample
with a cotton swab. Marrow transplants are imperative for many sick
patients all across the world. If marrow does match a patient in
need, the person in the registry will be contacted and be given the
chance to save someone’s life.
Barbara
McCue, who was diagnosed with leukemia last September, is one of
those who needs a bone transplant to survive. She is a 42-year old
mother of two young children and is also the cousin of a 1969 St.
John’s University graduate, Kathy Zuzulo. Kevin Ryan, Associate
Director of The Office of Community Relations at St. John’s, teamed
up with Barbara and her family with the hopes of helping her and
others in need of a bone marrow transplant find a successful
match.
When Barbara was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML),
her husband, William McCue and cousin, Kathy Zuzulo, tried to think
of ways to help Barbara. In teaming with DKMS (Deutsche
Knochenmarkspenderdatei gGmbH, which in English translates to
German Bone Marrow Donor Center), the world’s largest marrow donor
center, William and Kathy realized the best chance Barbara had at
finding a donor match would be at a university where there were
young and healthy students. It was this realization which led the
family to contact St. John’s University.
“I remember how much the university really gave to other people.
That was one of my biggest memories – the mission of St. John’s
because of its Vincentian order and their ability to help those in
need,” said Zuzolo, on the rationale for why she chose alma mater
to lend a helping hand.
St. John’s was eager to help Barbara and her family, as helping
others is central to the Vincentian mission of service to the
needy. “I think the bone marrow registration will catch on with
students. They are great and have made the blood drives their own.
It has now become a part of the culture on every campus that we
have,” said Ryan.
AML is an aggressive and devastating form of cancer. Only 3 out
of 10 patients will receive the transplant that could save their
lives.
Barbara and her family are hoping the St. John’s bone marrow
outreach will help her locate a match; even if it does not,
however, Barbara still cares deeply about the cause.
“Barbara understands her situation and has said that, even
though it (the awareness drive for the bone marrow registry) may
not help her, it definitely will help someone else.”
For more information about the Bone Marrow Registry or related
Blood Donor Drive information contact Kevin Ryan, Associate
Director, Office of Community Relations, at (718) 990-1912 or
e-mail inquiries to ryank@stjohns.edu.
Media interested in more information can contact Dominic
Scianna, Assistant Vice President for Media Relations, St. John’s
University, by calling (718) 990-6185 or e-mail inquiries to
sciannad@stjohns.edu.