Karina's Story

By Katherine McInerney

One-year-old Karina Regino was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) just three months after her uncle died of the same disease.

"You can imagine the devastation," says Karina's aunt, Melena De La Pena, who never expected her "bull of a brother" to lose the battle against this aggressive form of cancer. "We knew what was going to be ahead of her."

Diagnosed on Good Friday, Karina began her first round of aggressive chemotherapy on Easter Sunday and has been in and out of the hospital for tests and treatments since. A bone marrow transplant is Karina's only hope for survival, but there is no match for her in the national registry, which is in desperate need of more Hispanic donors.

"What people don't know is that Hispanics have such diverse DNA that it's very, very hard to find a donor," De La Pena says. "It's very hard for Hispanics to survive… and without people who are willing to join the registry it's a losing battle."

At such a young age, Baby Karina doesn't realize how sick she is. She is now walking and beginning to speak. She wakes up in the morning wanting to play, laughing like any other child. But her body is weak and shaky. Her skin is pale. She struggles to gain weight.

Time may be running out for Karina, so as their last hope for her, the family has decided to use one of her parents as a donor, even though they are only a three-point match. Typically, for bone marrow transplants, doctors look for 10-point matches as successful donors.

The family is also working to raise awareness about bone marrow donations and the need to diversify the national registry of donors. "People are so afraid of the process and what is unknown," De La Pena says. "But it’s not as scary as people think, it's not as painful as people think. With just a small effort on the person’s part, they can save a whole family from devastation."

"AML is the most common type of leukemia. More than 12,000 new cases occur in the United States each year," said Katharina Harf, EVP, DKMS Americas. "The general public can help give this precious little girl a second chance at life, by just giving ten minutes of their time and registering with DKMS as a marrow donor."

To find out information about upcoming drives for Karina and others, please check out the donor drive information page at DKMSAmericas.org