The brochure going around town has a photograph of a little girl, sitting among tulips, looking a bit shy.
The child is Lauren Newman, 10-year-old daughter of Lacy and Amy Newman of Dallas.
She needs your help.
Lauren is in her third relapse of leukemia. She's had the disease for seven years. She has fought it off twice with the assistance of chemotherapy and other medical treatment.
But Alan Carter, a friend of Lacy Newman, said Lauren's little body has been weakened by the chemotherapy treatments over the years. Now, only a bone marrow transplant will do.
"We're trying to save Lauren's life, right now," Carter said.
Most folks here in Greenwood know Lacy Newman or his family. He grew up here down the street from Carter. Newman has two sisters, Becky and Gayle. His mother is Emmy Lou. Lacy's dad was killed in a hunting accident back when Lacy was a teenager. He graduated from Greenwood High School in 1968.
A couple of Lacy's classmates, Carter and Janice Ellis Ford, decided to help out. They're setting up a marrow donor drive from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday at First Presbyterian Church.
This drive doesn't mean you'll have to give marrow right away. At the church, you'll watch a brief video about the National Marrow Donor Program. You'll have to fill out a questionnaire. Then, if you pass the screening, a medical person will take a vial of blood from you. The vial is small.
The blood will be shipped off for testing. Those who agree to this will be placed in the national marrow databases, even if they don't match with Lauren.
If you want to be tested, then call Carter at 453-8132 or Ford at 453-2585 to let them know. Carter expects 150-200 people to show up at the church, and he wants to have plenty of testing supplies on hand.
The tests usually take six weeks to complete, but physicians want to expedite Lauren's marrow transplant. "She really needs this in the month of May," Carter said.
Meanwhile, Lauren is back in the hospital in Dallas, suffering from infections. She's on multiple antibiotics right now. Her parents write about their daughter's medical condition on the Web site www.caringbridge.org/visit/laurennewman1.
"We continue to wait for marrow testing results from our coordinator at Sloan Kettering. Results from the large Dallas drive last weekend should be posted in another few weeks," they write.
"At last count friends and family have sponsored 10 other drives around the country on her behalf and have at least four more pending.
"We have been assured of expedited processing for these drives, all of which will be listed in the national marrow registry. We again thank the sponsors for the hard work organizing the drives, and we thank everyone else for supporting the drives and Lauren's cause in so many different ways."
