Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old star of the hit Broadway show, received an umbilical-cord blood transplant this week at Cohen Children's Medical Center in Long Island. Shannon suffers from acute myelogenous leukemia, and the best treatment for her would have been a bone marrow transplant. Last month, the cast members of "The Lion King," held a bone donor registration drive for her. Unfortunately the search was fruitless, and as of yet a match has not been found.
The team had said that they because were unable to find a perfect bone marrow match for Shannon, an umbilical cord blood transplant would be used. Umbilical cord blood from an anonymous donor will be used; it's an alternative to bone marrow for treating leukemia.
Dr. Joel Brochstein said in a statement Wednesday that there were no complications during the operation and Shannon was in good health.