Leukemia Patient Seeks Bone-Marrow Donor

A 47-year-old Tarzana woman who has leukemia is making a public plea for a bone-marrow donor, saying she will die within three to five months unless she undergoes the transplant operation.

Fran Arnold, speaking at a news conference at Tarzana Regional Medical Center on Wednesday, said she was making a public appeal because she and her family have exhausted all other possibilities for a bone-marrow match.

Arnold, a mother of three, pleaded for prospective donors to come forward. “There’s got to be somebody out there,” she said. “Please come out. . . . It can definitely save a life. If not mine, then somebody else’s.”

Although Arnold underwent chemotherapy treatment three weeks ago, “the greatest likelihood of achieving a remission would be . . . a bone-marrow transplant,” Arnold’s physician, Dr. Steven Newman, said. The chance of finding a proper match of bone marrow from the general public is one in 20,000, Newman said.

Friends of Arnold’s family have organized the Fran Arnold Donor Drive at her synagogue, Temple Judea, set for Sunday. They have established a fund to defray the cost of the blood tests that will be given then. Each blood test costs $75.

Organizers planned to call about 2,000 members of synagogues in Tarzana to make them aware of Sunday’s drive, said Robert Berger, chairman of the drive.