Carly Rose Nieves said she got an early Christmas present this year.
On Saturday, December 18, 200 pints of blood were donated and 54 people signed up for a bone marrow registry at Christ the King (CTK) Regional High School — all in honor of Carly.
The 14-year-old is battling a relapse of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), and proved the driving force behind Saturday’s successful blood drive.
“What a huge success today was, so many selfless friends and family came to support our cause, ‘Carly’s Cause,’” said mom Lisa.
Carly’s story began in July 2003 when the Middle Village girl was just seven.
She said she was frequently exhausted, couldn’t participate in gym class, and had a lot of pain.
“She was worn out and had other symptoms,” said her mother Lisa. “We were just hoping it was flu season.”
After testing, Carly was diagnosed with ALL (a cancer of the white blood cells that normally fight infections), received blood transfusions – after which, her mother said, the pain subsided – and underwent two years of intensive chemotherapy in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York.
But because of her intensive treatment, said her mom, Carly – who adores school – missed the second grade at P.S. 58.
After she had finished her treatment, Carly resumed her studies and would go in for routine check-ups and blood work.
“Carly had perfect counts,” said Lisa.
But on December 2, 2008, Carly’s blood work was off. She had suffered a relapse of ALL after three years.
“When she relapsed she was just getting her life back.”
At the time, she was an honor roll student in the 6th grade – and managed to graduate with honors despite “basically living at the hospital because of the high-dose chemotherapy.”
“The relapse was not anything we expected,” said Lisa. “But she’s incredibly strong and brave.”
This relapse and new diagnosis of ALL placed Carly in the high risk category, which requires additional intensive, high dose chemotherapy.
She is currently in remission, on maintenance treatment, which is still aggressive, but means she gets to be home.
“We’re hoping she stays there, because otherwise she’ll need a transfusion,” said Lisa.
She explained that cancer patients may require frequent blood transfusions because aggressive treatment often destroys healthy blood cells along with diseased ones. Red blood cell transfusions to fight anemia and platelet transfusions to control bleeding are often needed.
One bag of blood, she continued, can save three lives.
Eileen Sinopoli of Woodhaven donated for the first time on Saturday.
“It was very easy,” she told The Courier. “And it’s very rewarding – you feel good about yourself when you do something for others.”
CTK students know this first hand.
They held a bake sale, with all profits going to Friends of Karen, an organization that supports critically ill children and their families.
“Helping the less fortunate is good,” said sophomore Megan Vignola, who was manning the bake sale table with her friends.
“We are committed to the community and educating students to give back,” said Michael Michele, president of CTK. “Bone marrow is easily donated and we put an emphasis on educating people. We hope to become one of the top schools in donations.”
“I’m very grateful everybody came out,” said Carly. “Not for me, but for all my friends at the hospital and people who need it to live.”
And aside from all the donations and good will, Carly got one other gift she really wanted – she got her ID card to CTK.
For more information about becoming a marrow donor, call 1-800-MARROW-2. It’s a simple process that takes just a few minutes of paperwork and a cheek swab.
To learn more about Friends of Karen, go to www.friendsofkaren.org.
