Shannon Skye Tavarez (January , â€" November , ) was an American
child actress and singer. She played young Nala in the Broadway
theatre production of The Lion King by Walt Disney Theatrical.Shannon
Tavarez was the only child of Odiney Brown, a human resources
administrator, and one of the daughters of a Dominican man with the
surname of "Tavarez". She was a native and resident of Bellerose,
Queens, New York, and she was an honors student at P.S. as well as a
student of vocals and piano at the Harlem School of the Arts.She was
chosen to play the role of young Nala after a cattle call audition at
the Apollo Theater, and she became one of two girls who split the
role, with each of the girls performing four shows per week. Several
months after her September debut in The Lion King, she was forced to
leave the show after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
Because of her African-American and Dominican ethnic backgrounds, she
faced much greater difficulty in attempts to find a match for a bone
marrow transplant. Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Cent recruited
prospective donors from among their fans to help her find a bone
marrow donor.. Her former co-stars from The Lion King also helped her
by selling "Shine for Shannon" key chains and bracelets to raise money
to help her mother pay for her medical bills.She was then able to find
a partial bone-marrow donor match. She subsequently had an umbilical
cord transplant (prior to which she'd been undergoing chemotherapy )
because the doctors couldn't find a full bone-marrow-donor match for
her..
child actress and singer. She played young Nala in the Broadway
theatre production of The Lion King by Walt Disney Theatrical.Shannon
Tavarez was the only child of Odiney Brown, a human resources
administrator, and one of the daughters of a Dominican man with the
surname of "Tavarez". She was a native and resident of Bellerose,
Queens, New York, and she was an honors student at P.S. as well as a
student of vocals and piano at the Harlem School of the Arts.She was
chosen to play the role of young Nala after a cattle call audition at
the Apollo Theater, and she became one of two girls who split the
role, with each of the girls performing four shows per week. Several
months after her September debut in The Lion King, she was forced to
leave the show after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
Because of her African-American and Dominican ethnic backgrounds, she
faced much greater difficulty in attempts to find a match for a bone
marrow transplant. Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Cent recruited
prospective donors from among their fans to help her find a bone
marrow donor.. Her former co-stars from The Lion King also helped her
by selling "Shine for Shannon" key chains and bracelets to raise money
to help her mother pay for her medical bills.She was then able to find
a partial bone-marrow donor match. She subsequently had an umbilical
cord transplant (prior to which she'd been undergoing chemotherapy )
because the doctors couldn't find a full bone-marrow-donor match for
her..
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