Bone Marrow Registries Happening This Week For Fair Haven Teen

FAIR HAVEN, NJ — The community is mobilizing its forces to expand a bone marrow registry drive for one of its own, teen Emmy Freund, recently diagnosed with leukemia and now in need of a bone marrow transplant.

• On Feb. 8, there will be a registry event at Fair Haven Columbus Club from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The club is at 200 Fair Haven Road. Cheek swab kits available to become part of the donor registry.
• The Bell Works Farmers Market in Holmdel will be the site of another registry event from noon to 5 p.m., also Wednesday, Feb. 8, organizers said in an update.

"Help Emmy" is the flyer for the cause, and it is spreading the word about the registry, said a friend of the Freund family, Jen Harvey, who is also a Fair Haven resident.

Harvey said Emmy was diagnosed in early December with AML. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) starts in the bone marrow (the soft inner part of certain bones, where new blood cells are made), but most often it quickly moves into the blood, as well, the website notes.

Emmy is a freshman at Rumson-Fair Haven High School and plays volleyball, sings with a group and also studied dance, Harvey said.

Read more details about the registry here.

If you can not attend an event, you can obtain a swab kit by going to https://my.bethematch.org/emmystrongnj to become part of the registry.

Once registered, individual participants will be mailed a bone marrow screening kit. They can just swab the inside of the cheek and mail it back at no cost.

Use the link or text EMMYSTRONGNJ TO 61474 to receive a kit. The flyers also have a QR code you can scan.