EDMONTON – Several people from Edmonton’s Filipino community attended a weekend swab drive at the request of a Calgary family that hopes to find a stem-cell donor for a 16-year-old girl whose life is threatened by rare blood disorders.
Roshlind Mance was recently diagnosed with conditions that affect the way her body produces blood cells.
The disorders affect about one in one million people and costly treatment has been denied by the Alberta government.
Family members are not eligible to donate stem cells, so they’ve gone public in their search for the right person, with a focus on someone of Filipino descent.
The drive is just one of several planned by the Match for Roshlind Campaign in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg.
The next one will be a two-day swabbing in Winnipeg on Saturday and Sunday.