Public Service Announcement - 10.17.03
APA Bone Marrow Registration Drive
Forwarded to me by my friend Dr. Dennis.
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Dear Friends,
I want to write to you about a patient of mine, PJ.
He is an adorable 19 month old Korean boy who two
months ago was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer
called juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. This type of
cancer is very hard to treat and his best chance of
cure is through the use of a bone marrow transplant.
In order for a bone marrow transplant to be done a
donor who is a match for PJ needs to be found. When a
match can not be found within the family of the
patient, as in PJ�s case, the patient�s tissue typing
is sent to the national marrow donor program to see if
there is an unrelated donor who might be a match.
Because of the many different genes that are involved
in tissue typing the chance that any one person is a
match for any given patient is extremely small, but
when many people are registered in the national marrow
donor program the chance of finding a match are much
higher.
Furthermore, tissue types tend to run along ethnic
lines. Because Asians make up a small percentage of
the population, and because there are proportionally
fewer Asians who are willing to be donors, it can be
extremely difficult to find a match for Asian
patients. In contrast there are so many
Caucasian-American donors that many more of the
Caucasian patients in need of a bone marrow transplant
are able to find one from within the present pool of
registered potential donors. That is why I am asking
you to consider registering to be a donor.
The process of becoming a donor is simple, and free
for racial minorities (including people of mixed
racial heritage). My patient�s family has talked to
the Asian-American Donor Program and has set up a bone
marrow donor drive, which will take place at this time
and place:
Sunday 10/19/03 9AM-4PM
Sts. Andrew and Paul Korean Catholic Mission
531 East Weddell Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Becoming a registered marrow donor involves having a
sample of blood drawn (don�t worry just a little bit)
from a vein, filling out some paperwork and being
willing to be a marrow donor. If you are curious
about the process of bone marrow donation see this
website:
http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/steps_of_donation.html
Once one is on the registry you can be called to be a
donor for anyone who matches your tissue type. So
even if you are not a match for my patient PJ, you may
be able to give the gift of life to someone else.
If you are available and willing please come to the
drive this Sunday. If you are not able to make it the
Asian American Donor Program website has the sites of
other drives that are occuring in the bay area:
http://www.aadp.org/calendar.html
If you are not in the area you can call
1800-59-DONOR, 1-800-MARROW2 or your local blood bank
for information on how to be a marrow donor.
On PJ�s behalf, I want to tell you that he is an
extremely friendly, inquisitive and energetic little
boy with a very loving family. Childhood cancer is
particular tragic in that it deprives children like PJ
of the opportunity to live even before they have a
chance to experience life. It would be a shame if he
were not able to be cured for lack of finding a match.
While the chance that any one of us is a match is
low, if we get more Asians registered as donors there
will be a greater chance that he can be cured. I have
a friend who was a marrow donor and she says that the
opportunity to �save a life� enriched her own life as
well as that of the patient, and I ask you to give
consideration and prayer about this for yourself.
Thank you and God bless.
Sincerely,
Dennis Kuo
P.S. If you already are a registered donor but don�t
know if you are still active, or if you have moved
since your registered you can call the National Marrow
Donor Program at (800) MARROW2 (1-800-627-7692) to
update your contact information, so they can contact
you if you are a match for a patient.
P.P.S. To be a donor you need to be between the ages
of 18-60 years old and in good general health.
P.P.P.S. If you have any question feel free to ask
me: djkuo@stanford.edu.
P.P.P.P.S. If you want to help spread the word feel
free to forward this e-mail to people you know
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