It's time for the Tiger Hockey family to unite and help locate “Mandi's Hero.”

In a stepped-up effort to find a cord-blood donor for Mandi Schwartz, sister of Colorado College sophomore-to-be Rylan Schwartz and incoming freshman Jaden Schwartz, Colorado College has organized an exciting fundraising event with the cooperation of corporate sponsors Carrabba's Italian Grill and Outback Steakhouse on Geyser Drive near the World Arena.

The event, which will feature a dinner with several Tiger players and members of the coaching staff, is scheduled for Tuesday, July 6, from 4 until 9 p.m. All proceeds will go to help offset the costs of cord-blood donor recruitment and cord-blood collection.

Mandi Schwartz, who plays hockey for Yale University, currently is fighting a second bout with leukemia and needs a stem-cell transplant to survive. While her doctors have found a partially matched bone-marrow donor, that particular therapy can result in a life-threatening graft-versus-host (GVH) response if the donor cells recognize the recipient as foreign. 

Cord blood offers the same stem cells but rarely causes a life-threatening GVH response.

Mandi's biggest challenge is that the Schwartz family, of Wilcox, Saskatchewan, is of Russian, Ukrainian and German descent. They need to find someone with a similar background to be the proper match.

The campaign to help Mandi, spearheaded by Dr. Tedd Collins of Connecticut, is reaching out to people globally. Yale, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, the NCAA, ESPN, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the NHL, Sirius Satellite radio (NHL Home Ice/channel 208) and ABC News all have joined in the effort to spread the word and ultimately locate a match.

“I'm really happy,” Collins said of the widespread response, “not only because it's going to help Mandi, but also because it's going to change the way things have been being done – that's the great thing. I've really committed myself to this (working with cord-blood donors) until the day I die.”

Collins lost his daughter Natasha, a Yale Medical School student of mixed race, in August 2009 to GVH disease after a bone-marrow transplant that did not closely enough match her genetic makeup. He and his wife, Anne, subsequently founded www.BecomeMyHero.org to “ensure that mixed heritage families and individuals receive equal access to the life-saving potential of effectively safe stem-cell transplants.”

Tiger Hockey is reaching out to alumni, season-ticket holders, fans of the team and supporters of Colorado College athletics in general, making them aware of Mandi's need, as well as the upcoming fundraiser on her behalf.

Team members who have committed to participate in the July 6 event and meet with fans include David Civitarese, Nick Dineen, Andrew Hamburg and Tim Hall. Richard F. Celeste, president of the college, also will attend along with CC head coach Scott Owens and assistant coach Joe Bonnett.  

Carrabba's and Outback request that the people attending this event for the fundraiser identify themselves and if possible pay with a check or cash.
 
Please contact CC Athletics at 389-6475 with any questions. Additional information on the “Become Mandi's Hero” campaign is available at: http://www.BecomeMandisHero.org.