Community Blood Services Holds 2nd Annual Life Shared, Life Saved Fundraising Breakfast

November 2010

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Nearly 200 individuals who are committed to Community Blood Services� lifesaving mission attended the Foundation�s annual �Simple Acts of Giving: Life Shared, Life Saved� fundraising breakfast on Tuesday, Nov. 16th at the Sheraton Crossroads in Mahwah.

Cast members from Broadway�s �Phantom of the Opera� � Duane McDevitt , Michele McConnell, Jeremy Stolle and Melanie Field - entertained attendees with several musical selections during the emotional breakfast event.

In addition, Dr. Dennis Todd, the blood center�s president and chief executive officer, spoke about the center�s lifesaving work and vision for the future, and there was a viewing of the �Simple Acts of Giving: Life Shared, Life Saved� video. Two emotional testimonials were heard from stem cell recipient Andrea Katz and Dr. Anthony Fasciano, whose niece needed many blood and platelet transfusions.

Just three months shy of her 50th birthday, Andrea Katz was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Following chemotherapy treatments that proved disappointing, the only treatment left was an adult stem cell transplant. Today, thanks to stem cell donor Alan Greenberg, who registered with The HLA Registry at Community Blood Services, Andrea says she is cancer free and encourages everyone to register with the Registry as potential lifesaving donors.

Anthony Fasciano�s niece Elizabeth was only 14 months old when she developed a brain tumor that required emergency neurosurgery, chemotherapy and numerous blood and platelet transfusions. During her illness, Anthony, an endodontist in Englewood Cliffs, became a committed volunteer donor and recruiter, urging everyone he knew to become blood or platelet donors. Today, 5-year-old Elizabeth, who attended the breakfast with her uncle, is in remission.

Foundation Chair Lynne Warshaw also spoke about how the not-for-profit center depends upon the generosity of its many volunteer blood, marrow and cord blood donors, as well as its financial contributors.

More than $60,000 was raised at the second annual breakfast. Five-year pledges were made by the newest members of the Foundation�s Life Shared, Life Saved Giving Society: Nancy Boye, Moshe Lax, Matthew and Patricia Schwartz and Foundation Trustee John Uzzi. In addition, the HoHoKus Women�s Club made a $5,000 contribution towards a piece of lifesaving equipment for the blood center.

Community Blood Services, a not-for-profit organization, saves lives through blood, platelet and umbilical cord blood donations, and recruits lifesaving marrow stem cell donors through The HLA Registry. It provides blood and blood products to more than 30 hospitals in New Jersey and New York, and is home to New Jersey�s only not-for-profit public cord blood bank, the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank (NJCBB).

Funds raised from the breakfast will help support the operations and lifesaving programs at Community Blood Services. Individual contributions, and memberships to the Giving Society, are still being welcomed. Call the Foundation at 201-705-1669 or email [email protected] for more information or to make your financial contribution.