PLACENTIA : 2 Events to Help Girl With Leukemia

Two events are scheduled this weekend to help Christina Schnabl, the Placentia third-grader with leukemia who needs a bone marrow transplant.

Sixth-graders from Woodboro Elementary School in Placentia are throwing a party today for children in the pediatrics unit of Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. The party is the culmination of a leadership skills program for the sixth-graders, who are in the school’s Gifted and Talented Program.

When the children learned that Christina, 8, was being treated at Western Medical Center, they wanted to find a way to cheer her and publicize the bone marrow donation effort, said Nugget Skates, the program’s instructor.

“The children’s goal was to find a public problem and assume personal responsibility for it,” Skates said.

Christina is now hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Western Medical Center and will not be able to attend the party, Skates said.

In another effort, the Cal State Fullerton women’s softball team is sponsoring a bone marrow donation drive Monday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the college’s gymnasium. Christina was a batgirl for the team.