37th cleveland international film festival :: April 3 - april 14, 2013
Film Festival Blog
March 25th, 2011 @ 1:15pm

Would you like to save a life?

One of the amazing things about working in the Media Hub is I get to listen to all of the filmmakers who come up to the room to talk about their films and their lives. Just a little while ago, I got to listen in on an amazing story as two of the people involved in More to Live For were interviewed: James Chippendale, a leukemia survivor whose life was saved by a bone marrow transplant, and Susan Brecker, widow of Grammy-winning musician Michael Brecker, who succumbed to leukemia before a bone marrow donor could be found.

More to Live For, directed by the phenomenal Noah Hutton, is about to have its first Festival showing, and I hope that many of you will be attending. If you can't get here for it, you have another wonderful chance on Saturday at 1:30 pm and Sunday at 7:10 pm. You'll have an opportunity to not merely see their stories on the screen but to talk to them and ask them questions, yourself. And you'll have an even more important opportunity, as well.

James talked about how, whenever he looks at people now, he finds himself wondering whose life they might be able to save if they signed up with the bone marrow registry. Even more heartbreaking was hearing Susan talk about how she'd done the same thing, the whole time her husband was ill: every face she saw -- in the streets, on the subways, anywhere -- could have been the face of the person who had it in their power to save her husband's life, if only they were registered. If only.

And you can.

From now through Sunday, the bone marrow registry is here in Tower City Center. Signing up is simple and painless -- all they have to do is take a swab from your cheek, something less invasive than even a throat culture -- and then you'll be in the system. If you match up with someone suffering from leukemia, you can save a life.

Tens of thousands of people are diagnosed with -- and, tragically, die from -- leukemia every year, but you can help change that. All it takes today is a cheek swab and an open heart. Check out tomorrow's Buzz, when our own Meaghan Earley will show you just how easy and painless it is. And check out More to Live For, a story that you, too, can become part of... as someone's hero.


The bone marrow registry is being held on Tower City Center's second level by Bath and Body Works.

Posted by Lara Klaber

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