LIHU‘E — Fifteen minutes to save a life is not too much to ask. “Save a life,” the soft-spoken rightfielder from the Lihu‘e Baseball League’s Braves Pinto team chanted while waving a sign Friday afternoon along Rice Street fronting the
LIHU‘E — Fifteen minutes to save a life is not too much to ask.
“Save a life,” the soft-spoken rightfielder from the Lihu‘e Baseball League’s Braves Pinto team chanted while waving a sign Friday afternoon along Rice Street fronting the Kaua‘i Toyota showroom.
That rightfielder is Jaime Stibbard who was joined by her brother Colin, a player on the LBL’s White Sox team, as they solicited passing motorists to register with the Hawai‘i Bone Marrow Donor registry.
Jaime’s mom, Cathy, the oldest daughter of Richard Maeda of Lihu‘e, was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease over the holidays and needs a matching bone marrow transplant to help save her life.
“She was on O‘ahu, but only got strong enough to return to Kaua‘i only yesterday,” said Kevin Matsunaga, an assistant coach for the Braves, a Lihu‘e Baseball League Pinto team.
The drive to register bone marrow donors was coordinated in part by Kaua‘i Toyota, a Servco company, said Rachel Furutani, Cathy’s cousin and a family coordinator for the drive. Cathy joined Servco in October 2006.
“The drive continues from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Kaua‘i Toyota showroom,” Furutani said. “The registration process is simple and no blood will be drawn.”
Registrants complete the donor registration form and undergo four simple swabs of their inner cheek, according to a fact sheet. No blood needs to be drawn.
Additionally, registrants need to be 18 to 60 years old, willing to donate to any patient in need and able to meet the health guidelines established by the Hawai‘i Bone Marrow Donor registry.
Furutani said since Cathy was diagnosed, she’s sent her articles from The Garden Island newspaper about island residents who have been the key to helping save lives.
“She needs a lot of help to keep her spirits up,” Furutani said. “These articles help.”
When the Braves trooped down the hill from the Lihu‘e County Park and lined Rice Street, motorists honked their horns in support. Those horns spawned smiles from the Braves’ rightfielder and encouraged her with more chants of “Save a life.”
When more LBL teams walked down the hill and appeared from behind the hedges, she was speechless.
Maeda said Jaime and Colin have been living with them since their mother’s diagnosis and have been really good kids.
“We’ve had a lot of support from the community, and if she could see how much people care, that would help her a lot,” Maeda said. “People have been really good.”
Matsunaga said the team normally practices, but after discussing the matter with the Braves’ head coach Tim Ibia, the coach said, “This is more important. We can practice afterwards.”
The Braves have one more regular season game scheduled for today when the players get to play their mothers, Matsunaga said.
But for Jaime, her mom might be too weak to even come to the field.
Furutani said Shirley Fujimura was the Servco coordinator for the drive to help support its employee, and depending on the outcome there may be another drive scheduled.
For people on O‘ahu, Furutani said the certified public accountants will be hosting a drive there because Cathy is a CPA with Servco.
For those who missed the drive but want to register, Furutani said they can call the Hawai‘i Bone Marrow Donor registry at 1-808-547-6154 or 1-800-marrow-2 to get information.
More than 6,000 men, women and children desperately search the National Marrow Donor Program registry for a marrow match daily, states the handout.
Anyone can be the one to save a life and donors with diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds are especially needed, a fact sheet states.
For more information, visit marrow.org
