Brave Girl Who Won Hearts of Many Dies of Leukemia

A memorial service for Christina Schnabl, a schoolgirl whose courage in battling leukemia captured the hearts of hundreds of strangers, including President Bush, will be held Saturday.

The 9-year-old student at Wagner Elementary School in Placentia died Tuesday at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where she had been hospitalized since she learned in January that she was suffering from an aggressive form of leukemia.

Christina’s parents, Jerry and Linda, along with the Covina-based Life-Savers Foundation worked throughout her illness, but without success, to find a bone marrow donor. A transplant would have dramatically increased her chances of survival.

“Her situation is a situation happening around the country,” said Chuck Pruitt, director of recruitment for donors at the Life-Savers Foundation. “There are just not enough donors available to help people in need. We are working hard to find donors but unfortunately it didn’t happen in enough time for Christina.”

More than $20,000 for research and the costs associated with the search for a marrow donor was raised by classmates at Wagner school, the Cal State Fullerton women’s softball team, where Christina was a bat girl, and Allstate Insurance Cos.

“We all understood that Christina was very ill and worked hard to find possible donors,” said Wagner Principal Dale Downey. “But we knew she probably would not get better, and on Monday we told the other third-graders that her condition wasn’t improving and that she wouldn’t be returning to class.”

A family member contacted President Bush, who in March wrote to Christina, wishing her well and calling her an “inspiration to all who know you.”

A memorial service will be held at noon Saturday at San Antonio Catholic Church in Anaheim Hills, 5800 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road. The family requested that donations be sent to the Life-Savers Foundation of America.