Bone Marrow Transplant Needed!

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Navajo Teen Needs Bone Marrow Transplant
By Jim Snyder, The Daily Times
Mar 21, 2005, 12:23 am

FARMINGTON — The family of a Navajo teenager diagnosed with leukemia and in need of a bone-marrow transplant are hoping to find a donor match.

David Lister, 16, of Prescott, Ariz., is at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Arizona.

His mother, Sandra Shorty Lister, is originally from Shiprock.

“He’s pretty weak. His eyes are hurting,” his father Ernie Lister said Friday from David’s hospital room. “He’s a pretty sick boy.”

David Lister, who was diagnosed in August 2004, has been undergoing intense chemotherapy sessions.

He was doing well but relapsed March 3, said his aunt, Laura Johnson of Farmington.

“For a 16-year-old to hear all of that, it’s overwhelming,” said Johnson, a nurse at the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington. “We have to give him pep talks quite a bit. He’s in good spirits. He’s hopeful.”

The family is encouraging all races — especially Native Americans — to be tested as donors.

“When you sign up to be a bone-marrow donor all it is, is a pinprick,” said Ernie Lister.

Potential donors then become part of a worldwide bone marrow donor list comprised of more than 5 million people.
“There are only 60,000 Native Americans listed,” Ernie Lister noted.

The family has set up area bone-marrow drives:

• April 1, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Shiprock at The Door Christian Church.

• April 2, 9 a.m. to 3 pm at Farmington’s United Blood Services on 20th Street.

• April 8, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Chinle, Ariz., at The Door Christian Church, next to the A & W restaurant.

• April 9 in Gallup, with the time and location pending.

There will also be other drives on the Navajo reservation.

David’s brother’s and sister’s bone marrow matched each other, but did not match his, Ernie Lister said.
The family has set up an account at Wells Fargo Bank to help with expenses. The David Lister donation account number is 2121013268.
Jim Snyder: jsnyder@daily-times.com