On The Stella Liniado Rainbow Foundation’s (SLRF) website, www.StellasRainbow Foundation.org it says, “When you lose your parents you are an orphan. When you lose your spouse you are a widow(er). There is no name for a parent who loses their child because it is just too unspeakable.”
Sadly, the SLRF began in February 2007 when six-and-a-half-year-old Stella Liniado lost her fight with Leukemia. “When Stella got sick it was hard to believe. She was not in pain and she never complained!” says her mother, Mary. “Stella always loved rainbows; she was all about rainbows. She was our rainbow.”
Recently, The Stella Liniado Rainbow Foundation held it’s Second Annual Rainbow Tournament featuring basketball and tennis for boys and girls in grades 9 through 12, at the home of Valery and Scott Dweck on Candy Lane.
Although Stella’s brothers had their Second Annual Rainbow Tournament, Stella hasn’t even been gone for a year and a half, but she’s been gone from her family for two summers. Two summers without their sister and most of all, two summers without our daughter.
After a morning of drizzle, the rain stopped for the entire day so the tournament could take place. After the rain, the rainbows came out in Stella’s honor.
The tournaments were lots of fun. There were two divisions, older and younger, each with about 85 players and 20 teams. Together there were over 200 participants! The winners of the younger division of basketball were: first place: Yossi Hamidani’s team and second place: Louie Bildirichi’s team. As for the older division, Ralph Cohen’s team came in first place and Jack Jemal’s team came in second place. The winners of girls tennis were Cynthia Haddad and Lorrain Shrem. Thanks again to all attendees.
Stella’s brothers and the beautiful people from our community dedicated this day to her. You have no idea the struggle we live with every second of our lives—the pain and the emptiness we feel when we see her empty room and her pictures. This is the reason that we all need to understand the importance of getting our bone marrow tested. This is what the Stella Liniado Rainbow Foundation is all about.
The foundation’s three main goals are: bone marrow testing, cancer research and family counseling. SLRF will even test your bone marrow at your home or office free of charge. Our mission is to insure that our children beat this dreadful disease, not the other way around.
Without your support, children, moms and dads will not be able to fight this terrible disease. So far we have tested thousands of people in our community and have had over 75 matches. Ten people were perfect matches, gave their marrow and saved a life.
Based on national statics, the number of matches is very high, which means that the Sephardic blood line is very unique.
We want to thank all of our sponsors and supporters for being a part of the Stella Liniado Rainbow Foundation and most of all for keeping our daughter Stella’s name alive. Stella will always be a legacy—help keep this legacy alive.
Please look for upcoming bone marrow donor drives in Deal this summer. We will be testing at most of the synagogues in Deal during Tisha B’av. We will also host our Junior Basketball Tournament on August 3rd at Audrey and Stevie Shalom’s home. Please join us and have your bone marrow tested.
___________
Albert Liniado is Stella’s father.
