Maykin a Commitment as a Marrow Donor

(If you haven't already noticed, I am a big fan of my last name)

As a Leukemia patient, I am constantly learning new stats about my treatment.

"There is a 50% chance that your cancer will relapse. "

"Your siblings have a 25% chance that they will match" Unfortunately, my sister and brother did not match.

"About 13,410 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with AML in 2007."

"There is a total of 6.6 million individuals registered on the US Marrow Registry. However, there are only about 8,000 (.1%) Vietnamese and 3,200 (.05%) 'Other Southeast Asians' (Thais, Laosians, etc.) registered."

"On any given day, there are over 6,000 patients looking for a bone marrow donor match."

One of the most alarming statistics I read recently was from an ABC article (7/2/07) about my friend Vinay Chakravarthy's search for a bone marrow donor.

"The NMDP estimates that for people of Asian origin, only 50 percent of identified donors become available for a match. There are often three reasons why donors are unavailable. The NMDP either can't track them down; the donor has health issues that prevent them from donating; or they simply refuse."

This is very sad to hear. We already know that it is extremely difficult for ethnic minorities like me to find one match. To make matters worse, the odds of my potential donor turning down the opportunity (and quite possibly the ONLY opportunity) to save my life are so high. 50%?!?

I know we always talk about how easy it is to donate to convince people to sign up, but what we really need to stress is the true challenge for those who register. As a registered donor, will you rise to the occasion when you get the phone call from NMDP to tell you that you are a possible match? Will you agree to take time out of your busy life to do additional testing? Will you update your contact information on the NMDP registry when you change addresses? Will you agree to donate if you are the selected donor???

I encourage you all to take the time to read up on the donation process so that when you register to become a donor you are completely committed.

Tonight, I would like everyone who has registered to post a comment to let me know that you are "maykin" a commitment to the National Marrow Donor Program.

Thank you!