FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14, 2002

Contact: Melanie Granfors PIO Shoreline Fire Department

The Shoreline Fire Department will host a Bone Marrow Registration Drive on Saturday, April 13 from 10:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. at the Training and Support Facility, 17525 Aurora Avenue North, in Shoreline.

Those interested in being placed on the national bone marrow registry should be prepared to give a small sample of blood for testing. Once on the registry, donors will be contacted if they are a match for someone who needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

The Shoreline Fire and Police Departments, and the Puget Sound Blood Center are sponsoring the bone marrow registration drive on behalf of 4-year old Nicole Howard, of Seattle, and 27-year old Lynda Lyons, of Shoreline, and numerous others who desperately need a bone marrow transplant to survive -- and have not yet found a donor match. Nicole and Lynda are of Asian-Caucasian descent, so they, like all people of multi-ethnic and non-Caucasian backgrounds, have a difficult time finding marrow donor matches.

This drive is intended to attract people of Asian, African-American, Hispanic, Native American or mixed race backgrounds. Right now fewer than 10% of donors on the bone marrow registry are from each of these non-Caucasian backgrounds. Blood testing for donors from these racial backgrounds is paid for by a federal grant.

Caucasian donors, while still badly needed, are asked to pay for the testing required.

For more information, please contact Melanie Granfors at the Shoreline Fire Department at 206-533-6500 or visit www.helpnicole.org or www.savinglinda.org.

News media interested in in-depth feature stories about Lynda Lyons or Nicole Howard are welcome. Both are currently in treatment, and their families are willing to talk about the long road to recovery and their hopes to find bone marrow donors in the next few months. Both patients desperately need a bone marrow transplant to survive. Many news organizations recently covered the story of a Seattle Police officer who is a match for an infant in Seattle. This donor was discovered during an earlier drive on behalf of Nicole Howard. There is no match as yet for Nicole Howard. The Howard family will also be available for interviews, etc. on the day of the drive at Shoreline Fire.

Thank you! Melanie