A Celebration of Life for Miss Shannon Tavares

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The "celebration of life" was held on Monday at The Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York on Merrick Boulevard in Queens. More than 400 people attended the services at which [Shannon Tavarez]'s cast mates sang songs in her honor, according to Nahdi Mukomana, a friend of Shannon's mother, Odiney Brown.

"It's very important that people of color - not only African-Americans, but Asians, Hispanics, all people of mixed race and mixed heritage" - become donor matches, [Mukomana] said.

There are 8 million people in the national registry, but only 7 percent are African-Americans, which is something that Shannon's mom is going to continue to advocate to change because Shannon wanted to help find matches for other people with leukemia.

The young girl, who could sing and dance, gained the attention of singer Rihanna and hip-hop artist 50 Cent, who urged their fans and the public to register as bone marrow donors to help save someone's life.

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A Celebration of Life for Miss Shannon Tavares

The young, talented Queens girl who scored a hit in the Broadway show the "Lion King" as Young Naia before being diagnosed with leukemia died from th...

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