www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY April 7, 2019 6
Thousands of marching bands, residents and local legends took part in this year’s Welcome Back
Yankees Parade. Photo by Dennis Cohen
161st BID holds annual
Welcome Back Yankees parade
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Start spreadin’ the news!
The Bronx gave quite the welcome
back to the New York
Yankees upon the team’s triumphant
return to 1 E. 161st
Street and River Avenue on
Friday, March 29.
Over a thousand fans -
men, women, and children
- marched exuberantly
down the Grand Concourse
from East 167th Street to
the grounds of old Yankee
Stadium to show the Bombers
what they mean to the
Bronx.
Orchestrated and organized
by the 161st Business
Improvement District under
the leadership of Dr. Cary
Goodman, the parade featured
Grandmaster Melle
Mel, Grandmaster Caz, and
famed Yankee muralist Andre
Trenier all as honorary
grand marshals.
In the days leading up to
the parade, Goodman and
his BID once again called
on Trenier from the artistic
bullpen to work up a mural
of lefty pitcher CC Sabathia
for the East 161st Street underpass
adjacent to the stadium.
Given that Trenier’s
portraits of Joe Dimaggio,
Thurman Munson and
Whitey Ford already occupy
the eastbound side of the
tunnel, the talented muralist
put CC on the other side
and has concieved a plan for
During the festivities, renowned muralist Andre Trenier unveiled
his mural honoring former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia on his retirement.
Photo by Dennis Cohen
the remaining potion of the
wall.
Additionally, he touched
up some of his other murals
on 161st Street, such as
his black and white Mickey
Mantle piece.
The BID is also implimenting
an electronic
map of all the murals that
surround the hallowed
grounds, that’s expected to
be released this month.
While the area continues
to showcase the elegance
of Pinstripe Pride, many a
Bronxite also took pride in
marching around their own
borough cheering on their
hometown team!
Asaya Bullock with his sister Anaya. Photo courtesy of The Icla da Silva Foundation
Parkchester child fi ghts
for a chance at survivial
BY ROBERT WIRSING
A Bronx child needs your
help fi ghting a rare autoimmune
disease.
Since birth seven-yearold
Parkchester resident
Asaya Bullock has been
diagnosed with IPEX syndrome,
a rare autoimmune
disease linked to the dysfunction
of the transcription
factor FOXP3, widely considered
to be the master regulator
of the regulatory T cell
lineage, since March 2012.
According to the U.S. National
Library of Medicine,
IPEX syndrome can be life
threatening in early childhood.
The National Center for
Advancing Translational
Sciences notes the disease
solely affects males and
starts in the fi rst six months
of life.
Symptoms include severe
diarrhea; diabetes; skin
conditions such as eczema,
erythroderma or psoriasis
and thyroid disease.
Asaya’s only cure is a
bone marrow transplant
from a matching donor,
however fi nding the perfect
match has proven diffi cult.
Airam de Silva, The Icla
da Silva Foundation president,
explained that African
Americans possess a highly
mixed genetic heritage and
are dramatically underrepresented
on the Be The
Match registry.
Asaya’s father Vincent is
African American and his
mother Charlene is originally
from Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines.
They are searching for
a donor who shares Asaya’s
same ethicity and ancestry.
According to Charlene,
Asaya experiences stomach
and joint pain, eczema, migraines
lasting upwards of
three days, depression and
forgetfulness due to IPEX
syndrome.
She added that when her
son was dignosed the doctors
estimated that he would
only live for two years.
Charlene describes Asaya
as a fun, outgoing kidster
whose hobbies include football,
basketball, video games
and writing his own stories
and comic books.
The couple became aware
of the challenges in fi nding
a match for their son very
early on and took matters
into their own hands.
Soon after Asaya’s diagnosis,
Vincent and Charlene
decided to extend their family.
The couple gave birth to
their daughter Anaya and
hoped to use Anaya’s cord
blood as a potential cure for
their son.
Although Anaya’s cord
blood was a 70% match for
Asaya, his body rejected the
cells.
The odds are not in Asaya’s
favor.
According to the Icla de
Silva Foundation, white patients
have a 77% chance
of fi nding a match on the
registry while most African
American patients only
have a 23% chance of fi nding
a matching donor.
The more genetically
unique a patient is, such
as Asaya, the lower their
chances are in fi nding a
match.
De Silva noted that the
survival rate for individuals
with IPEX syndrome is between
75 to 80%, but it varies
from patient to patient.
The only way to increase
the chances of fi nding a
match is to get more people
to join the registry.
“Any person who joins
the registry could be a perfect
match for Asaya,” said
de Silva.
Anyone between 18 to
44-years-old can join the registry.
For additional information
and to add your genetics
to the registry, visit https://
join.bethematch.org/Bronx-
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