Jungle Jam, a unique, new benefit for bone marrow disease research, will be held Friday, October 17, 2008 from 6:30 p.m. to midnight at downtown Cleveland’s House of Blues (308 Euclid Avenue). The festivities will include performances by local bands, a silent auction and special guest appearances.

Proceeds from Jungle Jam will help fund the research of Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Jaroslaw Maciejewski, one of the world’s foremost specialists in bone marrow disease and the Principal Investigator of the Bone Marrow Failure Disease Consortium. Bone Marrow Failure Diseases include Aplastic Anemia, PNH and MDS; non-contagious, rare and potentially fatal illnesses in which blood production in the marrow is disrupted. Complications can arise, including the inability of blood to clot and susceptibility to infections. Right now, the only cure is a bone marrow transplant.

Dr. Maciejewski has proposed research to investigate the viral causes of aplastic anemia, a type of bone marrow disease in which stem cells in the bone marrow are destroyed and fail to reproduce. Using viral chip technology, researchers will seek to identify the virus responsible for aplastic anemia and ultimately develop diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive measures.

Aplastic anemia is an “orphan bone marrow disease” because it is rare. (There are per year approximately four new cases of aplastic anemia per million people in the United States; 10,000 to 25,000 people are afflicted with another related form of bone marrow failure disease called MDS.) Funding is scarce and research is limited. That does not make its threat any less serious.

Cleveland Heights residents Jeff and Sherri Kitzberger, whose eight-year-old daughter Annalyse was diagnosed with two forms of bone marrow disease three years ago, devised Jungle Jam to increase awareness of the disease and raise much-needed funds for research and a cure.

Tickets start at $125. They will also be available at the door. Jungle Jam promises to be an upbeat, fun-filled event to benefit a worthy cause. Sponsorships for Jungle Jam are currently available.

For more information, contact Pauline Ramig at 216-297-9062 or visit the website at www.makeithappen4bmd.org.