On September 8'th at 12:30 PM there will be a
Benefit show (bands, car show, belly dancers) for Joel Nevarez (nickname "Hollywood") a lower-valley young man who
needs a bone marrow transplant for AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia). Please think about going. He is about 25 years old. Joel would have been about 5 or 7 years old when Asarco El Paso began the illegal hidden toxic waste burning. He would have been 13 years old when the smelter was in full swing of the burning and the plume traveled down the lower valley. By the time the smelter closed in '99 and Joel was around 17 years old and his bones tried to grow, his tissues likely were loaded with the toxins. We can't be sure yet what causes this rare disease but now we have two cases of this here. Please let us know if you know of any more cases. He is awaiting a bone marrow transplant (the last stages of the disease) at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.
Asarco worker, Danny Arellano, a young father who worked at the Acid Plant during the Toxic Waste burning in the 1990's, suffers from myelodysplastic syndrome. Wikipedia describes this as "preleukemia" that has a varying risk of transformation to acute myelogenous leukemia." (click on the image to enlarge it on a new screen!)
2 comments:
Definitely been a while since you wrote this, but in case you still check it.
I have been teaching at EPHS since 1986 and lived in El Paso since 1969. I went to St. Pats for a year, and to UTEP in the 80s for five.
Two years ago I was diagnosed with AML and had bone marrow for treatment. All seems good now. The other day I ran into a friend who is a life long El Pasoan. Two years ago, his Dad was diagnosed with AML. Just lately, his wife was diagnosed with a form of Leukemia.
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