By Elizabeth Ladzinski
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — New Yorkers stood in line at Broadway's Minksoff Theatre Friday, not to see a show, but to save a life.
Family members, fellow cast and even strangers showed their support for leukemia-stricken "The Lion King" star Shannon Tavarez by getting tested to see if they were a match for her much-needed bone marrow transplant.
"I read the story and it touched me, and made me wanna come down here," said Barry Pringle, a vocational specialist from Harlem. "I don't work too far from here, so I figured I didn't have any excuse to not make it."
Tavarez, 11, won the role of young Nala last year after an open-call audition. After suffering a flu that wouldn’t go away, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in March. Tavarez began chemotherapy and needs a bone marrow transplant to survive.
"African Americans and Hispanics and people of color in general only make up about 20 percent of people registered in the bone marrow registry," said Tavarez's mother, Odiney Brown, of the need for donors. Tavarez is of African-American and Hispanic descent, making it more difficult to find a match for her.
"Not only could [the drive] help Shannon, but it could help others," she said.
"Right now only four out of 10 patients who can benefit from a transplant actually get one, so there's a huge need out there," said Alina Suprunova, a spokeswoman for DKMS, the center that ran the drive.
To become registered as a bone marrow donor, the swab can be mailed to your home by going to www.getswabbed.org.
