By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old "Lion King" star whose stage career was sidelined by leukemia is scheduled for life-saving surgery on Tuesday.
Tavarez played the young Nala in the Broadway show until she was diagnosed with the form of cancer in April. The young star, from Queens, is scheduled to undergo an umbilical-cord blood transplant because a perfect bone marrow match could not be found, CBS News reported.
"I'm just praying everything works," mom Odiney Brown told the Daily News.
"She's in good spirits. She's singing and playing the piano," her mom told the paper. "She can't wait. She calls this her 'new birthday.'"
Family members, fellow cast and well-wishers joined several bone marrow drives to find a match for Tavarez. Her mom is African-American and her dad is Hispanic, and both groups are underrepresented in bone marrow donor registers.
The News also reports that National Cord Blood Program at New York Blood Center found a workable, though not perfect, match for Shannon for the transplant. Brown said the donor is anonymous.
Tavarez also managed to finish fifth grade at Public School 176 in Cambria Heights, Queens while undergoing chemotherapy.
