Sorry for the bummer
This is an email my friend sent me, which I'm posting in case anyone wants to help. I'm leaving this post open to the public.
Dear Friends,
Just two weeks ago, good friends of mine found out that their 5 year old son, Kai, has a rare type of leukemia (Philadelphia Chromosome Positive Acute Lymphomblastic Leukemia) He is being treated with a cocktail of seven chemotherapy drugs, however, for this high risk form of leukemia, chemo is rarely enough. Kai's only real hope lies in a bone marrow transplant. Making this even more difficult, his father is also fighting a very rare type of cancer (Mantle Cell Lymphoma).
We need to find a genetic match for Kai, so he can have the bone marrow transplant he needs to stay alive. We want to register as many new bone marrow donors as possible in order to give him hope. To do this, we have organized a 'bone marrow drive' : we would be very grateful if you could you come and sign up as a bone marrow donor . The testing process for donors is quick, painless and easy (see below) - the location is here:
Sunday May 17th from 10 am to 2 pm
Prospect Park YMCA
357 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Telephone number 718 768 7100
for specific information contact Sandy Phillips at extension 2377
To find out if you are a match is simple: you fill out a registration form and are given a kit to swab the cells from the inside of your upper cheek. The drive organizers send your kit to a central testing facility, and your genetic type is stored securely in their database which is screened whenever people with Leukemia are looking for a bone marrow match. If you are a match for a patient dying of leukemia, 80% of the time, your donation takes place through a blood transfusion, 20% of the time, through a minor procedure to sample your bone marrow. 1 in 130 people tested turn out to be a match for a leukemia patient. For more details about how this all works, click here to Understand your commitment and find out if you are eligible to register.
If you cannot make it to the drive on May 17th, but would like to help the Andersons , please visit www.HopeForKai.com. There are other drives, opportunities to volunteer, and/or you can help financially (each donor test costs $65, and is paid for by charitable donations).
Please take a moment to think about whether you can help save this child's life: the testing and donation process is much easier than you think.
Some more information about the bone-marrow screening service: DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow donor center, is the amazing organization that is running this. They are a non-profit organization, and as such, DKMS relies on the generosity of individuals to help finance the $65 cost DKMS pays to tissue type each bone marrow donor who registers. Donations are voluntary. Donate today! Every dollar counts! 100% of your donation will be used to register donors and add them on the National Registry. For more information, please visit www.dkmsamericas.org
We'd also be grateful if you could forward this email to anyone you know: colleagues, friends and family to encourage them to register as a bone marrow donor .