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Dover freshman seeking blood stem cell donor

Dover freshman seeking blood stem cell donor

Brian Rojas, 14, of Dover Plains needs a lifesaving blood stem cell transplant. According to DKMS, an international organization dedicated to helping people fight blood cancers, 70% of patients suffering from blood-related illnesses rely on donors from outside their families.

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DOVER PLAINS — Brian Rojas, of Dover Plains, and his family are seeking blood stem cell donors to aid in his fight against myelodysplastic syndromes, a group of disorders caused by deformed or malfunctioning blood cells.

A donor drive to search for eligible stem cell donors will be held Saturday, March 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Grand Ballroom on Westchester Avenue in Port Chester, New York.

The donor drive is a simple swab to find an eligible donor. According to DKMS, an international organization dedicated to fighting blood cancers and helping families find donors, 70% of patients suffering from blood-related illnesses rely on donors from outside their families. Minority populations are underrepresented in the donor pool. Hispanic patients like Rojas have a harder time finding eligible donors.

Anyone in good health — especially members of the hispanic community — between the age of 18 to 55 is encouraged to attend the donor drive March 8. Potential registrants will review medical eligibility, fill out a registration form, swab the insides of their cheeks, and then drop off their completed packet before leaving the drive.

Rojas is a freshman at Dover Plains high school where he is an honors student and active student athlete.

Rojas’s latest struggle with myelodysplastic syndromes is just the latest in a lifetime of dealing with illness. At four years old Rojas was diagnosed with a rare genetic brain disease and received gene therapy, allowing him a second chance at life.

Millerton News
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The Millerton News - October 1, 2026

The Millerton News - October 1, 2026

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Doug Tallamy’s work in progress: saving the planet one backyard at a time

Doug Tallamy’s work in progress: saving the planet one backyard at a time

Windacre, a 25-acre property in Millerton will be the site of “Work in Progress,” an afternoon with acclaimed entomologist, New York Times bestselling author and Homegrown National Park co-founder Doug Tallamy.

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For nearly three decades, Doug Tallamy, a professor at the University of Delaware and co-founder of Homegrown National Park, has studied the intricate relationships between native plants, insects, birds and the ecosystems that sustain them. His books, including “Bringing Nature Home” and “Nature’s Best Hope,” have helped shift the conversation about conservation from something that happens primarily in parks and preserves to something ordinary people can practice on the land around them.

On Sunday, Oct. 4, Tallamy will bring that conversation to Windacre in Millerton for “Work in Progress: Toward Native Fields,” an outdoor gathering exploring both the possibilities and the complications of restoring private land for biodiversity.

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Celebrating Dick Hermans’ life built around community

Celebrating Dick Hermans’ life built around community

Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton\u2019s Main Street in 1985.

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No matter what I’ve done, I’m trying to be useful to the communities I’m associated with.
— Dick Hermans

When Dick Hermans receives the Estabrook Community Leadership Award on Oct. 11, he will accept it for a lifetime of work that has taken many forms: bookseller, radio host, school board member, advocate for the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, business owner, volunteer and, perhaps most importantly, a person who has consistently looked for ways to be useful to the communities around him.

The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News will present Hermans with the 2026 award at the annual Jubilee celebration at the Sharon Playhouse. The award honors outstanding leadership in community service and was inspired by Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook, former owners of the newspapers who believed that strengthening a community extended well beyond the work of publishing a newspaper.

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Tending the Fire: Homelands PowWow brings Mohican culture home to the Berkshires

Tending the Fire: Homelands PowWow brings Mohican culture home to the Berkshires

Members of the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe at Homelands PowWow in 2025.

Joeseph Plante New Media Storytellers
Our goal is to continue building an annual gathering that honors the history, culture and traditions of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans in their original Homelands.


For the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican people, the Berkshires are not simply a place to visit. They are ancestral homelands.

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Ancram Center’s “A Number” doubles questions of identity

Ancram Center’s “A Number” doubles questions of identity

How would you feel if you found out you weren’t the only you — if there was an exact replica of you? What if you found out that you’d been cloned? Would you believe that you’re the real you? Would you suspect you might be a copy of the original? How could you be sure anything about your life was real? These are some of the questions posed in Caryl Churchill’s play “A Number,” opening at the Ancram Center for the Artson Oct. 1.

Churchill was born in London in 1938 and has been hailed by the theaterl world as one of the strongest voices of her time to take on sexual politics and feminist themes. Her works garner pointedly considered analysis from the highest levels of theatrical intellectualism. Basically, it’s about as far from “The Lion King” as you can get. While she’s experimented with dance theater in the past, “A Number” is much more stripped down, highlighting Churchill’s chosen themes and the skills of both actors on stage.

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Dispatches from the Farm

Dispatches from the Farm

Adamah Farm crew members planning out the day’s tasks on a late September day.

Janna Siller

“Dispatches from the farm” is a new, periodic column offering a firsthand look at the rhythms, challenges and rewards of farming through the eyes of a local farmer.

The thing about plants is that they can’t get up and move. When a storm like last weekend’s nor’easter threatens to roll through, you can’t just round everybody up and settle them safely on the sofa for movie night.

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