[ASU] Bone Marrow Testing Drive (fwd)

[Fletcher Ziwoya]

Colleagues, I just want to share this email that I received and think is a 
noble cause to support.


My name is Erica Cohen and I am contacting you about a bone marrow testing
drive I am hosting.I am planning this drive in honor of a 16-year-old girl
named Amy from Pittsburgh. Amy was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous
leukemia in 2003 and has been searching (unsuccessfully) for a bone marrow
donor since her diagnosis. Her only chance for a full recovery is a bone
marrow transplant.

Our goal is to recruit 1,000 Ohio University students, faculty, staff and
Athens community members. I am hoping to involve as many multicultural
groups and organizations on-campus as possible. Minority donors are
especially in-need because they are so underrepresented in the National
Marrow Registry, which matches marrow donors with patients around the
world. An African child requiring a bone marrow transplant will be much
more likely to find a match in another person of African descent. However,
there aren't enough African marrow donors in the Registry to facilitate
these matches.

The drive will be to type potential donors to determine if they are matches
for patients in-need. The test is a simple cheek swab and does not require
blood to be drawn or tests to be conducted. After a cheek swab and the
completion of paperwork, the volunteer will be added to the National Marrow
Registry (NMR), which is checked each time a person is in need of a bone
marrow donor. Approximately 6,000 patients around the world search the NMR
each day in hopes of finding a marrow donor. Because tissue typing is so
specific, you (or another person recruited at our drive) may be the one in
eight million people who can save a patient's life.

Below are some statistics to show the necessity for additional bone marrow
donors:

20,000 – number of patients who look for a marrow donor each year
30% - percentage of patients who will find a match within their own family
70% - percentage of patients who will need to go to the registry to look
for an unrelated donor
20 – number of years the National Marrow Registry (NMR) has been in
existence
8 million – number of registered potential donors
33,000 – number of transplants facilitated by the NMR over the past 20
years

20,000 x 70% = 14,000 patients who need an unrelated donor each year
33,000 / 20 = 1,650 patients who receive marrow from an unrelated donor
each year
14,000 – 1,650 = 12,350 patients who need a bone marrow transplant and do
not get one each year

I am hosting my drive through an organization called DKMS. You can check
out the organization's Web site at www.dkmsamericas.org

The drive will be held on Wednesday, February 25 from 11am-6pm in the Baker
3rd floor atrium and is being co-sponsored by the Department of Residence
Life, Hillel and Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Would it be at all possible to speak to the members of your organization at
one of your meetings? And maybe you could forward this message to the group
members? Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks,
Erica Cohen
412-496-0474

-- 
Erica Cohen
Senator At-Large, Ohio University Student Senate
Resident Assistant, Jefferson Hall
University Hearing Board Member

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