Armenian first lady shows support of project

[MosJan]

Armenian first lady shows support of project

 

 

By TIM WILLERT

 

GLENDALE -- Armenia's first lady, Bella Kocharyan, was among 400 people who turned out at the Glendale Hilton on Saturday night in support the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Charitable Trust.

The trust is set to open its second donor recruitment center Tuesday at Glendale Memorial Hospital, which has donated space in its cancer center.

Saturday's fund-raiser took in $15,000, said Dr. Frieda Jordan, chairwoman of the trust.

"I was extremely pleased with the turnout," Jordan said. "It was extremely successful."

The project seeks to to find bone marrow donors who match the specific needs of Armenians worldwide with leukemia and other blood-related diseases.

In December, the project raised enough money to open a tissue-typing center in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The project's goal is to register 10,000 potential Armenian bone marrow donors by 2004.

Also on Saturday, Glendale Memorial officials announced plans to increase the hospital's commitment to the project from three to six years, Jordan said.

"That's a very, very big help," she said. "Without their help we wouldn't be able to type as many donors as we would like to."

In the photo above, Kocharyan, center, and Jordan, right, are greeted by Dr. Aida Shirinian at Saturday's fund-raiser.

[MosJan]

Program brings new source of hope

Bone marrow donor recruitment center opens with donors, visit from Armenian first lady.

 

 

By CLAUDIA PESCHIUTTA

 

SOUTHWEST GLENDALE -- With the prick of a syringe in her right arm, Anait Papikyan on Tuesday became the first visitor of a local recruitment center for the world's only Armenian bone marrow donor registry.

First Lady of Armenia Bella Kocharyan and a crowd of officials and registry supporters gathered at Glendale Memorial Hospital to celebrate the opening of a second recruitment center for the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Charitable Trust.

"It is very important for our nation to have our own registry," Kocharyan said through a translator. "This is to save children and, also, adults."

The project was co-founded by Dr. Frieda Jordan of Glendale in 1999 to help find bone-marrow donors to meet the specific needs of Armenians suffering from leukemia and other blood-related diseases.

Space for the Glendale recruitment center was donated by Glendale Memorial, a supporter of the project. The first recruitment center opened in December in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

For Jordan, the opening of a recruitment center in Glendale was "the realization of a dream."

"My mission has just started," she said. "Now, we can do the real work."

Kocharyan marked the event by presenting hospital President Arnold Schaffer and Dr. Bruce Finstead, chairman of the Glendale Memorial Board of Directors, with a painting depicting the Annunciation of the birth of Christ.

Papikyan, a Glendale Memorial employee, was happy to be the local center's first donor.

"This is a very good program," she said. "I would like to support it."

This project can join Armenians in the homeland and abroad, Kocharyan said.

"This is another opportunity to link all Armenians together and act as a bridge," she said.

HOW TO HELP

* WHAT: Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Charitable Trust.

* DONATIONS: Checks should be made out to the Armenian Bone Marrow Project and sent to the trust at 347 W. Stocker St., No. 208, Glendale, CA 91202.

* CONTACT: For more information, e-mails can be sent to: frieda.jordan@att.net.