BY A STAFF REPORTER
TARZANA, CA – The Cure Sonia Fundraiser for Leukemia was held at the Encino Banquet & Garden on February 28 here with over 260 guests in attendance. Pledges were made in the amount of $50,000. Nilu Rai, Sonia’s mother, who is a Director and Treasurer of the Cure Sonia Organization,
TARZANA, CA – The Cure Sonia Fundraiser for Leukemia was held at the Encino Banquet & Garden on February 28 here with over 260 guests in attendance. Pledges were made in the amount of $50,000. Nilu Rai, Sonia’s mother, who is a Director and Treasurer of the Cure Sonia Organization,
informed the audience that Cure Sonia was formed in 2012 to honor the last wishes of Sonia, who lost her life in March 2012 to leukemia, a month short of her 26th birthday. Sonia’s last wish was to permanently eradicate leukemia. To accomplish this goal, Cure Sonia has three objectives. First is to fund and support the most effective research to combat leukemia. The treatment, especially for acute leukemia as it exists today results in very low survival rates. A new method of treatment for acute leukemia is the Allogeneic Cellular Therapy (ACT) which is being conducted at USC under the leadership of Dr. Preet Chaudhary. The second is to provide some financial assistance to leukemia patients who are unable to support the out of pocket costs of treatment due to severe financial constraints. The third objective is to continue hosting drives to add to the number of donors in the National Marrow Donor Program.
Dr. Preet. Chaudhary, who is the Chief of Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology at USC was the keynote speaker. He said ACT is a novel form of cell therapy that overcomes many of the limitations of the existing approach, thereby having the potential of improving survival rates.. It involves administering lower doses of chemotherapy followed by infusion of Stem Cells from a donor. Unlike the existing approach, the donor for ACT does not need to be fully matched to the patient and any suitable immediate family member can serve as a donor. This considerably expands the pool of eligible donors and potentially makes this therapy available to most patients.
Dr. Chaudhary highlighted that USC is the first place in the U S where ACT research is going on and now other research centers like Duke University are starting to look at it. Dr. Chaudhary revealed that with the generous support of Cure Sonia, they were actively engaged in investigating treatment of acute leukemia and have become a national leader in this emerging field. He thanked Cure Sonia saying, “we would not be where we are today without Cure Sonia.” The audience was asked to submit questions on leukemia which. Dr. Chaudhary responded to. Some doctors and other members of Dr. Chaudhary’s team from USC were also present at the Fundraiser. Ajit Rai, Sonia father who the emcee for the evening. The guests were entertained by Hindi songs performed by Nauzad Sadry, Sunil Khanna, Bhavna Chawla and Chanda Khanna. A delicious dinner was served by Dilli Express Restaurant.
Dr. Preet. Chaudhary, who is the Chief of Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology at USC was the keynote speaker. He said ACT is a novel form of cell therapy that overcomes many of the limitations of the existing approach, thereby having the potential of improving survival rates.. It involves administering lower doses of chemotherapy followed by infusion of Stem Cells from a donor. Unlike the existing approach, the donor for ACT does not need to be fully matched to the patient and any suitable immediate family member can serve as a donor. This considerably expands the pool of eligible donors and potentially makes this therapy available to most patients.
Dr. Chaudhary highlighted that USC is the first place in the U S where ACT research is going on and now other research centers like Duke University are starting to look at it. Dr. Chaudhary revealed that with the generous support of Cure Sonia, they were actively engaged in investigating treatment of acute leukemia and have become a national leader in this emerging field. He thanked Cure Sonia saying, “we would not be where we are today without Cure Sonia.” The audience was asked to submit questions on leukemia which. Dr. Chaudhary responded to. Some doctors and other members of Dr. Chaudhary’s team from USC were also present at the Fundraiser. Ajit Rai, Sonia father who the emcee for the evening. The guests were entertained by Hindi songs performed by Nauzad Sadry, Sunil Khanna, Bhavna Chawla and Chanda Khanna. A delicious dinner was served by Dilli Express Restaurant.