By Jeff Lipton
They will be aiding in the effort to find a bone marrow match for Barry Mishkin, 33, who was diagnosed more than two years ago with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Chemotherapy treatments, which were working, suddenly have become ineffective and Mishkin of Riverdale has taken a turn for the worse, turning to a bone marrow transplant as his only remaining hope. For the last several months, the family and friends of Mishkin, many of whom live in the Five Towns and West Hempstead, have been searching for a suitable donor.
On Sunday, Feb. 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., they will take their search to the HAFTR gym, 635 Central Avenue, in a last-ditch effort to find a match. The test involves a simple cheek swab test; no needles or blood is involved.
Donors will automatically be entered in the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry for other patients who are in desperate need of life-saving matches. Donors must be between 18 and 60 years old; the best chance for a match would be from Eastern European Jewish ancestry, or Ashkenazi, although everyone is invited to take the test and no one will be turned away. Blood type does not matter and those who have been previously tested do not have to be retested. HAFTR has generously donated the facility for the day for testing, family members said.
Mishkin, who is a gastroenterology fellow, in training at Montefiore Medical Center, was diagnosed shortly after the birth of his son, Jason.
It can be fatal, said Jonathan Nierenberg of Cedarhurst, who is Mishkin
