The bone marrow registry has approximately 19 million donors but the percentage of Indian/South Asian donors is less than 3 percent.
I decided to do this post for my friend Jaspreet’s nephew, Sahil as it pulled at my heart strings as I also lost a cousin years ago to Leukemia. Sahil is 34yrs old and was diagnosed with a rare form of Acute Leukemia on May 31st 2019. He is a loving husband and father to a 2 yr old son. He needs a bone marrow transplant ASAP to survive and be there for all those special milestones for his son. Just like Sahil, there are many others waiting for a chance to LIVE.
Another person that is also looking for a match is Karam Kaur, is a 25 yr old optometry student and was also diagnosed in April of this year. Both Sahil & Karam are so much more than hashtags- #swabforsahil and #matchforkaram. They are people with families and stories that want a chance at life, and you have the chance to give them to them and many others.
We urge you to click the link below and register at one of these centers. HLA testing (which determines your bone marrow type) is just a simple cheek swab. It only takes about 10 minutes and is absolutely free.
US: join.bethematch.org/Marrow or Text: CURE04 to 61474 to get a link
Canada : www.blood.ca
UK : www.nhsbt.nhs.uk
Australia: www.abmdr.org.au
India & rest of Asia: www.arjanvirfoundation.org and https://www.dkms-bmst.org/en. These registries are in India and connected with many hospitals in India as well as several worldwide research organizations like Stanford.
HLA markers used in matching are inherited and some ethnic groups have more complex tissue types than others. So a person’s best chance of finding an adult donor may be with someone of their own ethnic background. If you are a match, the donor process is very simple. It’s like donating blood and requires no surgeries.
We have a thousand excuses of why today is not a good day – we are all busy with work, kids, activities, and those endless sports/drama/debate practices ..(fill in the blank) and yes we know- you are busy!
Because we know that’s not what you are saying and we get it. We really do.
So, lets get out of our comfort zone, register to become a donor, help spread the word and maybe even gather all our desi friends and organize a donor drive in our South Asian Community.
Upcoming Get Swabbed Event in Chandler, Arizona on September 7th, 2019
Come out to d’Vine Gourmet (10am- 1pm)- get swabbed and get a taste of their amazing one of a kind Caramel!!
(Thank you d’vine Gourmet for hosting and “Giving A Caramel For A Swab”)
Each and every single person will add to the donor pool count. “Every drop in the ocean counts.” – Yoko Ono. You could be someone’s cure. You could literally save a life….TODAY, so whip out that phone and TEXT (CURE04 to 61474 to get a link) or connect with one of the donor registry sites above.
Stay Blessed Today & Always and Thank You!
