Oct. 26, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
REHOR-FEDERICO FUNDRAISER GALLERY
Former Illinois State volleyball player and Redbird Hall of Famer Chris Rehor-Federico is awaiting a bone marrow transplant, a procedure which hopefully will stop the rare Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) disease from attacking her body.
On October 11, Rehor-Federico's family and friends held a bean bag tournament fund-raiser event to help raise funds to offset the costs of her medical expenses. In addition to the bone marrow transplant, Rehor-Federico has already had numerous bloom transfusions and chemotherapy treatments.
Even though the fund-raising event has already occurred, opportunities to support Rehor-Federico in this fight are also available through $5 personalized "Livestrong" bracelets. To support this Redbird great, please makes checks payable to the Christine Federico MDS Fund and send your bracelet size (mens, womens or child), to Robyn Horn, 547 Carriage Ridge Lane, Lemont, IL 60439.
MDS describes a group of bone marrow conditions that cause inadequate production of normal blood cells and have a risk of progressing to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In MDS, stem cells don't mature and either do not make enough blood cells or make defective cells. Immature stem cells eventually crowd out healthy stem cells. Once 20 percent of the cells in the bone marrow are immature cells, the condition is no longer considered MDS and is instead called AML.
Rehor-Federico was one of the best offensive volleyball players in Illinois State history, holding the career records for kills (1,773), kills per set (3.96) and attack attempts (4,614). She led Redbird teams to a combined 85-48 record in four seasons, including a 29-7 mark in league play.
Rehor-Federico is the only player in Redbird history to lead her team three or more times in kills, digs or service aces. She led in the Redbirds in aces all four of her seasons and in both kills and digs her last three seasons. She is also the only player in Missouri Valley Conference history to lead conference in kills, digs, aces and hitting percentage in the same season (1988). She was inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
