Rub a Q-Tip in Your Mouth; Save a Life
There's something about becoming a bone marrow donor that scares people. I think that has to be it. Because only 5% of Americans are registered, and I'd like to believe the reason is because they are scared and not because say, they couldn't be bothered.
What people don't know is that bone marrow donation technology has really evolved over the past ten years or so. You no longer need to give a blood sample in order to register. Just swab your cheek with a q-tip.
You no longer have to undergo surgery to donate bone marrow. Approximately 75% of donations are now performed through donating blood.
***
My mom used to do a lot of secretarial work for my uncle, so we would check his voice mail when he was busy with work or out of town. I remember one voicemail several years ago was a call from the National Bone Marrow Registry urgently asking to be put in touch with one of my cousins. This cousin was away at college and had registered to be a donor. It was very likely my cousin was a match for someone in need of a bone marrow donation. The registry asks that family members be listed in case the potential donor changes an address or number and cannot be reached.
After listening to the message, my mother decided to delete it without passing the message along to my cousin. I remember fighting her on this decision. "Your cousin doesn't need to know about this," she said. "Your cousin is under no obligation to respond to this message. They can find another donor. Surgery is dangerous, they're asking for a lot." (The irony is that my mother was also registered bone marrow donor; she'd registered during a parent drive at the local Chinese language school.)
Whenever I read about bone marrow donation I always wonder what happened to the patient whose donor never called back. If my mother had known more about bone marrow donation and had not reacted out of fear and ignorance, would she have passed along the message to my cousin? Would my cousin have donated? Did the patient die? Did they find another donor?
A while back I got the chance to register to be a donor. I am going to try and keep the registry updated with my name and phone number whenever I move.
***
My CLICC coworker/friend James emailed everyone on facebook last week to share that his girlfriend Janet was recently diagnosed with leukemia. He really loves her and her friends and family are campaigning to help her fight this cancer. Finding a bone marrow donor is major key to her recovery.
Janet Liang is a UCLA student who wants to be a teacher and travel the world for humanitarian agencies when she graduates. On August 24, 2009 she received a diagnosis for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It is a rapidly progressing form of leukemia containing large numbers of malignant, immature white blood cells (called lymphoblasts) that crowd out the normal cells in the bone marrow and can spread to other organs of the human body. She received this bad news after a series of check-ups she originally undertook so she could study abroad in Paris. Instead, she's twenty-two years old and currently undergoing intensive chemo at the UCLA Medical Center.
Unfortunately, insurance complications meant she faced several delays before getting treatment. She also recently learned that her brother was not a donor match. Finding a match will be challenging for Janet since she is Chinese American, and donor matches are often people of the same ethnicity. Only 5% of all Americans are registered to donate. Very few Asian Americans are registered as bone marrow donors compared to the entire Asian American population. The same is true for virtually every other American ethnic population, including people of mixed heritage.
Whether or not you are Asian American, I strongly urge you to please consider registering to be a bone marrow donor! A lot has changed technology-wise over the last ten years to make registration and donation easier and less scary! In addition to the very easy, q-tip in mouth registration procedure, most donations are now conducted without surgery for the donor.
In the past, all donations involved surgically removing marrow from the donor's hip bone. Now, new technology called peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation allows many donors to simply to take a common drug that will increase their stem cell count. Then the donation process is similar to donating blood via aphresis. No being put under, no invasive surgery--and you get to save a life!
These days it is even possible to order a kit and swab your mouth at home and mail the q-tips back. As there is an increased need for non-white registrants, home registration kits are actually FREE for anyone of all or part ethnic minority descent (all or part Asian and Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, African American/Black or Native American/Alaska Native.) You can order a free home kit here.
Help SAVE Janet Liang - Bone Marrow Donor Drive Facebook Group
You can read more about Janet's ongoing treatment via her blog.
What people don't know is that bone marrow donation technology has really evolved over the past ten years or so. You no longer need to give a blood sample in order to register. Just swab your cheek with a q-tip.
You no longer have to undergo surgery to donate bone marrow. Approximately 75% of donations are now performed through donating blood.
***
My mom used to do a lot of secretarial work for my uncle, so we would check his voice mail when he was busy with work or out of town. I remember one voicemail several years ago was a call from the National Bone Marrow Registry urgently asking to be put in touch with one of my cousins. This cousin was away at college and had registered to be a donor. It was very likely my cousin was a match for someone in need of a bone marrow donation. The registry asks that family members be listed in case the potential donor changes an address or number and cannot be reached.
After listening to the message, my mother decided to delete it without passing the message along to my cousin. I remember fighting her on this decision. "Your cousin doesn't need to know about this," she said. "Your cousin is under no obligation to respond to this message. They can find another donor. Surgery is dangerous, they're asking for a lot." (The irony is that my mother was also registered bone marrow donor; she'd registered during a parent drive at the local Chinese language school.)
Whenever I read about bone marrow donation I always wonder what happened to the patient whose donor never called back. If my mother had known more about bone marrow donation and had not reacted out of fear and ignorance, would she have passed along the message to my cousin? Would my cousin have donated? Did the patient die? Did they find another donor?
A while back I got the chance to register to be a donor. I am going to try and keep the registry updated with my name and phone number whenever I move.
***
My CLICC coworker/friend James emailed everyone on facebook last week to share that his girlfriend Janet was recently diagnosed with leukemia. He really loves her and her friends and family are campaigning to help her fight this cancer. Finding a bone marrow donor is major key to her recovery.
Janet Liang is a UCLA student who wants to be a teacher and travel the world for humanitarian agencies when she graduates. On August 24, 2009 she received a diagnosis for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It is a rapidly progressing form of leukemia containing large numbers of malignant, immature white blood cells (called lymphoblasts) that crowd out the normal cells in the bone marrow and can spread to other organs of the human body. She received this bad news after a series of check-ups she originally undertook so she could study abroad in Paris. Instead, she's twenty-two years old and currently undergoing intensive chemo at the UCLA Medical Center.
Unfortunately, insurance complications meant she faced several delays before getting treatment. She also recently learned that her brother was not a donor match. Finding a match will be challenging for Janet since she is Chinese American, and donor matches are often people of the same ethnicity. Only 5% of all Americans are registered to donate. Very few Asian Americans are registered as bone marrow donors compared to the entire Asian American population. The same is true for virtually every other American ethnic population, including people of mixed heritage.
Whether or not you are Asian American, I strongly urge you to please consider registering to be a bone marrow donor! A lot has changed technology-wise over the last ten years to make registration and donation easier and less scary! In addition to the very easy, q-tip in mouth registration procedure, most donations are now conducted without surgery for the donor.
In the past, all donations involved surgically removing marrow from the donor's hip bone. Now, new technology called peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation allows many donors to simply to take a common drug that will increase their stem cell count. Then the donation process is similar to donating blood via aphresis. No being put under, no invasive surgery--and you get to save a life!
These days it is even possible to order a kit and swab your mouth at home and mail the q-tips back. As there is an increased need for non-white registrants, home registration kits are actually FREE for anyone of all or part ethnic minority descent (all or part Asian and Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, African American/Black or Native American/Alaska Native.) You can order a free home kit here.
Help SAVE Janet Liang - Bone Marrow Donor Drive Facebook Group
You can read more about Janet's ongoing treatment via her blog.