My mom, who works for a department store in the D.C. suburbs, asked me if I would be willing to write a post on SM about her co-worker Smita. My dad sent me an email:
You may want to post this on “Sepia Mutiny” i.e. if this type of things are accepted per your protocols……
Smitas husband (whose name is Abhi) will die within about two months unless he gets a bone marrow match. The story is particularly sad. My mom told me that the night before their wedding they received a call from the doctor for Abhi, who wasnt home at the time. Smita told the doctor she was his fiancé and that she would relay the message. The doctor told her Abhi was dying of Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. They went ahead and got married the next day. The two are desperately seeking a bone marrow match and have made this flyer (click on the picture) appealing for help. Many of you reading this post may end up at the annual NetIP conference in Atlanta next weekend to find a love match. If you do attend make it priority #1 to give just 5 drops of your blood for the database. Even if you can’t help save Abhi you might make a difference for someone else. Click the image below for the schedule at NetIP.
Here is a FAQ:
Why?1. There are more than 350 medical conditions for which the matching bone marrow is the only life saving remedy available.
2. Your best chance of finding a matching bone marrow is from people of your own kind. Caucasian is likely to find from a Caucasian and African American from another African American. Asian will likely to find from another Asian
3. Even from the people of your own kind the odds of finding a matching bone marrow may be as low as one in one hundred thousands.What does it involve?
The registration involves two simple steps. First you fill out a form. And, than you five drops of your blood to be tested. This is done by pricking the finger, just like a diabetic would do several times a day on his own. This is done by certified phlebotomists who are trained professionals using disposable needles.
We have blogged about this issue before (1,2,3) but we can’t stress it enough. GO give a couple drops of blood so that you are logged in the registry. South Asians and minority populations are way underrepresented in the database, and unfortunately this is an affliction in which race matters.
