Posted on: Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Nu'uanu students rallying to save lives of three brothers
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
What began as a way to teach students about the science of bone marrow has united their school in an effort to help two very ill classmates.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser The students split into two groups yesterday as they circled their Nu'uanu campus and urged adults to come to an on-campus bone marrow drive on Thursday, Veterans Day. The drive also will include a concert and craft fair, thanks to students and their families and other community help.
Michelle Togami, 12, of Nu'uanu, said learning about the science of marrow has been interesting. Seeing that students can help is even better.
"It feels good to not be doing something just for us," she said.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Tuan, a student at McKinley High School, previously attended Kawananakoa.
Kevin, 13, and Tuan, 15, are eligible for a transplant now and Anthony, 11, could benefit later.
Principal Sandra Ishihara-Shibata called the registry to see how the school could help.
Kawananakoa Middle School students and teachers have planned a concert and craft fair to sign up potential bone marrow donors for Kevin and Anthony Nguyen and their older brother, Tuan.
The drive, the fair and the entertainment run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Nu'uanu school, which is near an east-bound on-ramp to H-1 Freeway. Sponsors hope the Veterans Day holiday will help provide a good turnout.
Entertainers include: Hapa, Just Two Girls with Sonya Mendez and Mimi Conner (and guests Anita Hall and John Bryan), Hot Rain, Buckz Boyz, juggler Greg Gabaylo, the Kawananakoa Middle School orchestra and drama club, and Hui O Waena from Central Middle School.
To register as a potential bone marrow donor, people must be between 18 and 60 years old and in good health.
A small sample of blood is drawn and sent to a laboratory for tissue typing. For information, call the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Registry at 547-6154, or toll-free at (877) 443-6667. So Yonashiro set up workshops at the school and brought with him a donor and a marrow recipient to explain how someone can go from offering a small blood sample to saving a life. He was amazed by the response from the 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds.
Lorin Gill, 12, of Pauoa, said talking with the people who went through the transplant made a big difference. "It's really implanted it in our brain."
Lindsay Takekawa, 12, of Kane'ohe, said the drive means more because students see they can help people they know and like and see every day.
Takekawa said the Nguyen brothers don't let the disease take over their lives. "They just want you to treat them like everybody else," she said.
The message made such a difference for the three seventh-graders that they joined a group of 25 students and five teachers who spent most of their Election Day holiday passing out drive posters and talking to people in the Liliha-Nu'uanu community about how they can help.
"It was tiring but it was really fun," Togami said.
When Yonashiro first heard from Ishihara-Shibata, he was pleased by the chance to spread the word about upcoming drives. "They're too young to sign up but they're not too young to learn," he said.
Yonashiro and the others who spoke to the students were impressed by their questions, understanding and caring.
From there the project just took off. Ishihara-Shibata got help from entertainer Sonya Mendez on setting up a concert. Students' families donated food for the day of the drive. Students painted posters. "It just got bigger and bigger and bigger," said Ishihara-Shibata.
She beams with pride for the students. "They took on this project and they just ran with it."
Gill said the project has opened their eyes to how working together for a cause can make a difference. "Wow, nobody ever listened to us like that before."
"We're doing something good for a good reason," Takekawa said.
Attempts to reach the boys' mother, Lani Nguyen, were unsuccessful yesterday.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
The 800 students of Kawananakoa Middle School hit the streets this morning and yesterday to wave signs and ask for donors who could save the lives of Anthony and Kevin Nguyen, and their older brother, Tuan. All are struggling with a rare and fatal disease.
Kawananakoa Middle School students promote their bone marrow donor registry drive scheduled for Thursday.
Anthony, Kevin and Tuan Nguyen have a rare inherited blood disorder called Hyper IgM Syndrome, which affects only boys and men and leaves them unusually vulnerable to infections, said Roy Yonashiro, donor recruitment coordinator of the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
Students from Kawananakoa Middle School are hoping that their bone marrow registry drive on Thursday will produce a matching donor for Anthony, Kevin and Tuan Nguyen, three brothers who have a rare disease. The drive will be held at the Nu'uanu school.
"These are our kids," she said. "We just felt like it was something we had to do."
Kawananakoa marrow drive
