11 Year old Lion King star Shannon Tavarez dies after battle with leukemia

An 11-year-old Shannon Tavarez, who played young Nala in “The Lion King” on Broadway, has died after a battle with leukemia. She was diagnosed with leukemia last spring and has spent much of her time in hospital since then.

Doctors were unable to find a match for a bone-marrow transplant, so as an alternative she received an umbilical-cord transplant in August.

Tavarez, a native of Queens, had a bright Broadway career. She landed the role of young Nala in the hit musical “The Lion King” on Broadway. As she ballanced a full day of school and four shows a week at the Minskoff Theater, things drastically slowed down for Tavarez after she was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia.

Tavarez attracted the attention of a variety of celebrities, including Alicia Keys, Rihanna and 50 Cent, who hosted a donor drive for Tavarez in August.

The daughter of an African-American mother and Dominican father, Tavarez took a pro-active approach to her diagnosis, including appearances in PSA videos urging people of all ethnicity to sign up as bone marrow donors.

Leukemia is cancer that begins in the tissue that forms blood. It is characterized by the uncontrolled accumulation of blood cells. Leukemia is divided into four categories: myelogenous or lymphocytic, each of which can be acute or chronic. The terms myelogenous or lymphocytic denote the cell type involved. The are four major types of leukemia. Treatment for leukemia can be complex — depending on the type of leukemia and other factors.