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Help for NYC woman Rihanna championed
03/07/2008 12:00 PM, AP
A leukemia patient in dire need of a bone marrow transplant reportedly has found a donor after Grammy-winning singer Rihanna publicized her case. "The English language does not have words that are adequate to thank someone for working to save your life," Lisa Gershowitz Flynn of New York wrote in an e-mail to supporters Thursday, People.com reported. Flynn, a 41-year-old lawyer and mother of two small children, was diagnosed in November 2007 with acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. People.com said last month that doctors had told Flynn she needed to find a marrow donor within four to six weeks. Rihanna had done previous work with DKMS, an international donor network based in Tubingen, Germany. "When I heard about Lisa's plight, my heart broke," the 20-year-old singer told the magazine last month. Rihanna's campaign to help Flynn sparked more than 5,000 calls and e-mails to DKMS, and about 2,000 new donors have registered. It wasn't clear how or when Flynn's 32-year-old donor registered with the organization. Flynn has said she was touched by Rihanna's efforts. Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, and Jay-Z won a Grammy last month in the rap/sung collaboration category, for her hit "Umbrella." She was recently named an honorary cultural ambassador for her native Barbados. ___ On the Net: People: http://www.people.com DKMS: http://www.dkmsamericas.org/
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