Sometimes we meet our angels, sometimes we don’t. Shanice Murphy and Ula Nell Barrack have yet to share a hello and a hug. Nevertheless, Shanice, a Flatbush 5-year-old with the rare, life-threatening condition of aplastic anemia, has found a protector and advocate in Barrack, a Staten Island native and student at the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Davidson School of Education.Barrack, who says she’s in her 40s, was drawn to Shanice’s plight by press accounts describing her richly varied background that includes forebears who are African-American, Latino, European and Cherokee Indian — plus one Jewish great-grandfather.It was this latter branch on the Murphy family tree that not only sparked an instinctive communal response in Barrack but also highlighted one inescapable reality: the key to saving Shanice’s life — a bone marrow transplant that can only occur with a perfect biological match — may well lie within the literal bones of a person of similarly mixed ancestry.Joining a host of other Samaritans from numerous walks of New York life who have rallied around the stricken girl, Barrack has directed her appeal to a broad range of Jewish organizations. The results have been disappointing. “I can’t help but wonder,” she said, “if she were a white child, would there be more public notice of her problem?” Undaunted, Barrack said she was continuing her campaign, focusing now on Jewish media and other lines of communication into the community, such as schools and synagogues. The main object, she explained, was encouraging those of a mixed ethnic background similar to Shanice’s to register as bone marrow donors. She emphasized that registration is free to self-declared minorities and requires only a simple blood test to determine a match. (For the nearest registration site, Barrack suggested inquirers call 800 NYBLOOD, Ext. 2.)Barrack recalled her personal moment of decision — a Yom HaShoah ceremony at JTS: “I came away with the resolution that the best response to this horror of 50 years ago is to do everything you can to save human lives today.”On a recent balmy July afternoon, Devorah Murphy, Shanice’s mother, chaperoned her daughter as she cavorted on the sidewalk with neighborhood friends. She confessed that she herself was unaware that her paternal grandfather was Jewish until five years ago, when she pulled his photograph from a trove of family mementos.Since then, she has learned little more of the patriarch she had never met, except that he was an immigrant from an undetermined foreign country, married Murphy’s Indian grandmother and at some point changed his name.Beyond dispute is his genetic legacy that may yet prove a key factor in saving a little girl’s life.As Shanice played with her mates, her mother called out a stream of admonitions: “No pushing,” “Don’t climb,” “Don’t jump, Shanice.” Shanice’s aplastic anemia destroys her blood marrow and her body’s ability to produce blood and leaves her dangerously vulnerable to the scrapes and bruises common to childhood. Children diagnosed with aplastic anemia rarely survive until adulthood.Still Murphy tries to ration her warnings, however necessary. “If I take too much from her,” she mused, “she’ll get depressed. And I’m afraid that if her mind shuts down her body will quit.”To the casual visitor, Shanice shows no sign of being any sort of quitter. Since January, when she was first diagnosed with the aplastic anemia, Shanice has endured endless, arduous (and expensive) rounds of lab tests, steroid treatments and platelet infusions. Too at-risk to attend regular school, she spends her days with a kindergarten home tutor provided by the Board of Education. She tires easily. Yet under her mother’s watchful eye, she plays with the carefree intensity of any 5-year-old. Solemn and puckish by turns, she declared her two most cherished goals: “To meet Michael Jordan. And my boyfriend, Michael Jackson.”Commented Dr. Swayam Sadanandan, chief of Brooklyn Hospital Center’s Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology: “If Shanice finds a blood marrow match, she will survive. But the match must be perfect.” She added: “Children tend to respond better to treatment than adults. They lack the anxiety. They don’t have the adult issues.”Luckily for Shanice, Devorah Murphy — her daughter’s most powerful asset — knows her way around a crisis. A craftsperson who fashions wedding accessories from fabric, Murphy has many years of experience tending to the needs of Shanice’s 22-year-old sister Amira, who is severely retarded and autistic. Murphy is also known around her neighborhood as a hard-working tenant activist. Reciprocating her dedication, virtually everyone on the Murphys’ block donated blood to Shanice. And when Shanice fell sick, Murphy was able to turn to one old ally, State Sen. Marty Markowitz, who helped set up Friends of Shanice Murphy, dedicated to helping children suffering from aplastic anemia.“She’s a beautiful little girl who will win anybody’s heart,” Markowitz told The Jewish Week. “And there’s the uniqueness of her need because of her mixed background. She has an absolute right to life [that] we’re confident that whites, Jews, blacks will respond to.”Another champion of Shanice is Carl David Berman, a grant writer for the Church Avenue Merchant Block Association and an attorney advocate for children, who has put CAMBA behind the drive to save Shanice.Echoing Barrack, Berman — who is Jewish — said: “We’re everywhere. Say what you will about intermarriage, but it has spread Jewish culture and provided Jewish roots to people like Devorah and Shanice. And if anybody can stand up for people in need, we can.Hopefully, Shanice’s Jewish background will help her to grow up into the adulthood she deserves.”On Aug. 11 at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, an all-day bone marrow and blood drive will take place to find a tissue match for Shanice or other patients in need of a transplant. (For further inquiries contact Friends of Shanice Murphy, c/o Courier-Life, 1733 Sheepshead Bay Road, Brooklyn, NY 11235.)Blood and bone marrow drives will also be conducted at the Monday night Martin Luther Jr. King Concert series, held at Wingate High School Field, from July 26 through Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m. The high school is on Winthrop Street between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues.Said Barrack: “We’re getting the word out.”
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