Good thing I updated my info on the national bone marrow donor Registry. I recently received a letter from the National Marrow Donor Program saying:
Dear Jennifer:
On 02/25/1995, you took the first step to help save someone’s life – you signed up to become a member of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry. To celebrate this important anniversary, we want to thank you for your commitment to saving a life.
For many patients with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma, a marrow transplant from an unrelated donor is their best or only hope for a cure. These patients are among the 70 percent who do not have a donor in their family and rely on volunteer donors like you to save their lives.
As doctors search the Registry, your tissue type is being continuously reviewed as a possible match for a patient in need. We all have the power to help. By joining the Registry, you have taken the extra step to give patients hope that a match can be found. On behalf of all the patients and their families, we thank you.
You can also help by 1) encouraging others to join the Registry, 2) making a tax-deductible contribution, or 3) volunteering.
Thank you for continuing to provide hope to patients in need of a life-saving transplant.
Ok, so since I have neither time nor money, I’ll go with #1. DO IT! Especially if you’re Asian. Because tissue type is inherited, patients from the same ethnic background are more able to find an appropriate match within that same community.
Visit http://www.marrow.org and join the registry. Or you can set up a drive at your school or church by contacting one of these National Marrow Donor Program Recruitment Groups:
- Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M) — recruits mainly in Southern California: http://www.AsianMarrow.org
- South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters, Inc. (SAMAR) — recruits in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware: http://www.samarinfo.org
- Asian American Donor Program — recruits mainly in Northern California: http://www.AADP.org
Wow, 1995. That was during one of those regional AACF praise night events–in Riverside, I believe. Dang, I’m old.
One Comment
I wanted to thank you for posting this. I think Dee Dee/Heddy Chiang would really appreciate this post. She is the co-founder of AADP. She is a very close family friend, we spent many weekends and vacations with our two families at a younger age.
Her daughter Amanda Chiang died in 1989 of leukemia because they couldn't find a donor that matched, me being one of them. I remember Brittany her younger sister always talking about Amanda, even thought she never knew her. Her story is documented in Amanda's Legacy. I run in honor of her.
Now, if only they would take my blood. Last time they pricked my finger and said my temperature was too high by .2.