Carew Goes to Bat for His Daughter : Medicine: Baseball Hall of Famer issues an emotional appeal for bone marrow donors to help his child and other cancer patients.

With his 17-year-old daughter lying in a hospital bed two floors above him, former baseball star Rod Carew made an emotional appeal Monday for bone marrow donors for his child and other cancer patients.

At a news conference at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the Hall of Famer, who is now the California Angels’ batting coach, said: “All the years I spent playing the game of baseball, right now it’s one of my toughest at-bats.”

In September, Michelle Carew was found to have a potentially fatal form of leukemia and may need a transplant of bone marrow, which produces the white blood cells that help fight disease. Marrow from Michelle’s family members is not compatible with hers.

More than 1.8 million donors are listed in the National Marrow Donor Program, but none of those match Michelle’s type. Three different proteins on the surface of the immune cells must match for marrow to be compatible, said Dr. Mitchell S. Cairo, who is treating Michelle.

Bone marrow donors are usually of the same race as recipients, Cairo said. Michelle is racially mixed--her father is West Indian and Panamanian, and her mother is white. Fewer than 5% of the donors listed on the national registry are black, Cairo said.

Carew, who played 12 years with the Minnesota Twins and seven with the Angels, has become a spokesman and advocate for the bone marrow donor program.

Although Michelle’s leukemia is in remission, she is receiving chemotherapy, Cairo said. In about eight weeks he will decide whether she requires a bone marrow transplant. If she does, he said, he hopes to have a donor lined up.

Michelle joked with reporters Monday but said she was tired and has trouble sleeping because the chemotherapy causes nausea. The most difficult part, she said, is “watching my family in pain, knowing there’s nothing they can do.”

Among the half a dozen speakers at the news conference was Compton resident Kanika Colvin, 21, who said she recently gave bone marrow through a program organized by her sorority at Cal State Long Beach.

After a series of blood and health tests, marrow is removed from a qualified donor’s hip bone with a special needle. The surgical procedure is done under general or spinal anesthesia.

In hopes of recruiting more potential bone marrow donors, especially minorities, Planet Hollywood in Santa Ana is offering free preliminary testing from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. Information: (800) MARROW2.