Mandi Schwartz, Canadian college ice hockey player, died from acute myeloid leukemia she was , 23.

Mandi Jocelyn Schwartz  was a Canadian player with the Yale Bulldogs women's ice hockey team  died from acute myeloid leukemia she was , 23.. In December 2008 — her junior year at Yale University — Schwartz was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Her diagnosis and search for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant resulted in bone marrow drives being held at Yale and in Canada. While bone marrow drives held at Yale University did not result in a match for Schwartz, they did result in six matches for other patients on the registry who were waiting for a transplant. She underwent a stem cell transplant from donated umbilical cord blood in September 2010. In December 2010, she learned that the cancer had returned and discontinued most forms of treatment. Schwartz died in Regina, Saskatchewan, at the age of 23.

(February 3, 1988 – April 3, 2011)

Hockey career

Schwartz played minor hockey at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan.^[1] She joined the Yale Bulldogs after graduating high school in 2006.^[1] Schwartz attended evaluation camps for Canadian national women's ice hockey team hosted by Hockey Canada.^[1]

Illness and death

Schwartz was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in December 2008, during her junior year at Yale.^[1] She had been sick for much of the fall semester, but attributed it to stress and an initial diagnosis of anemia. She was diagnosed on December 8, 2008.^[2] She started treatment for her cancer in December 2008 and was able to briefly return to school and began practicing with the hockey team again in January 2010. In April 2010, she received word that her cancer had returned and was forced to leave school.^[2]
Doctors had decided that Schwartz's best option for treatment would be either a cord blood or bone marrow transplant. In the hopes of finding a match, bone marrow drives were organized at Yale University and at several locations throughout Canada. Drives held at Yale resulted in more than 1,600 people volunteering as potential donors.^[3] Bone marrow drives did not result in a match for Schwartz, but doctors found a suitable donor from umbilical cord blood. In September 2010, Schwartz underwent the transplant in Seattle.^[4] Her cancer went into remission after the transplant, but returned again in December 2010. Shortly after this, Schwartz decided to discontinue most forms of treatment.^[4] Rather than hoping for a cure, Schwartz continued with palliative chemotherapy designed to minimize her symptoms.^[5] On April 2, 2011, she entered a Regina hospital and died the following day.^[1][2][4]

Personal life

Schwartz was the daughter of Rick and Carol Schwartz. Her brothers, Jaden and Rylan, both play for the Colorado College men's ice hockey team. Jaden was a first round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.^[4] She was engaged to Kaylem Prefontaine, whom she had met in high school. They had planned to marry in 2012.^[6]

Legacy

Yale University has made bone marrow drives an annual event on campus. The first two drives signed up over 1,600 potential donors. The 2011 drive was held in April, shortly after Schwartz's death. Shortly after the event, it was announced that the drive had unofficially signed up another 869 potential donors.^[7] Although the school's drives did not find a match for Schwartz, they have generated six other matches for patients who required a bone marrow transplant.^[8] The success of Yale's bone marrow drives is statistically unlikely, according to Sam Rubin who works in Yale's sports publicity department. Rubin stated, "Usually, it takes tens of thousands of people to get one match. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack."^[6]

 

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