Farewell to a Fighter: Michelle Carew

More than 1,000 family members and friends of Michelle Carew, the 18-year-old daughter of baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew, said goodbye Friday and remembered the leukemia victim as a beautiful young woman “with a warm smile.”

The memorial service, which was held at Temple Beth Sholom, where Carew and his wife, Marilynn, worship, was filled with both somber and enjoyable moments as Michelle’s sisters, her friends and her father shared poignant recollections.

It was held two days after the Anaheim Hills teenager died of acute non-lymphocytic leukemia, ending a seven-month battle at Children’s Hospital of Orange County that included a well-publicized search for a bone marrow donor that sparked donor interest worldwide.

Mourners included Angel owner Gene Autry and players past and present, including Reggie Jackson, Bobby Grich, Lee Smith and Chuck Finley. Pallbearers included Angel slugger Chili Davis and Rene Gonzales, a former Angel player who was close to the family.

Rabbi Frank Stern remembered Michelle as a young woman “with spunk,” who even in the most trying circumstances had a sunny disposition and strength.

When doctors explained a difficult upcoming surgical procedure to Michelle, Stern said, she lightened the situation with, “Let’s hurry up. My soaps come on at 12 noon.”

In an unexpected moment at the service, Rod Carew arose and urged mourners to remember the best about his “little girl.”

“If she saw someone who didn’t have a smile she would take hers off and put it on them,” her father said, his voice cracking.

Carew told of his daughter’s courage. He recalled that when her leukemia was first diagnosed she quickly asked doctors, “Do I have a chance?” When they said yes, Carew said, she responded, “ ‘That’s all I need to know.’ She didn’t cry, she didn’t complain. She just accepted it. That’s the way Michelle had done things all her life.”

Most of all, Carew said, “I’m going to miss the way she used to say, ‘I love you, Daddy.’ ”

Others said Michelle’s legacy is the interest she spurred in bone marrow donations.

Rabbi Stern told of the international search and the family’s own pleas on behalf of Michelle to find a suitable donor. None was found. Michelle’s genetic makeup had complicated the search: She was the daughter of a black man with West Indian-Panamanian lineage and a white mother of Russian-Jewish descent.

“But through those efforts, thousands registered to be tested as donors,” Stern said. “That is Michelle’s legacy. . . . If we want to remember Michelle, let’s do it by helping someone in need.”

The National Marrow Donor Program in Minneapolis received more than 70,000 calls after Michelle’s condition was diagnosed and made public last fall. In the 12 hours after her death, nearly 3,000 people inquired about joining the bone marrow registry.

Michelle’s friend, Bobby Orduno, 20, of Perris, thanked her parents for “raising such a beautiful daughter. Michelle will always be in my heart.”

For Darra Landman, 18, who attended Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills with Michelle and was among those who kept vigils by her bedside, saying goodbye to her friend “Misha” was difficult.

“Misha taught her friends how to face every day, even the toughest days, with a smile,” Landman said during the service. “Misha would want me to tell you to smile. She would want me to tell you a joke.”

As she looked at Michelle’s sisters, she told them, “I will become your little sister,” and offered solace in the fact that they both did everything they could to help their sister stay alive.

A funeral service is scheduled Sunday, with burial at United Hebrew Brotherhood Cemetery near Minneapolis in Richfield, Minn.

The family asked that donations be made to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, in care of Children’s Hospital of Orange County, P.O. Box 1076, Orange CA 92668-0076.