please help

If you read this you probably already know about this or got an email from me about it, but I'm going to hope there is one person who reads this who I don't know or who is otherwise unaware. A student at my school is fighting leukemia for the second time, and needs a bone marrow donor. Please consider signing up in the marrow registry to see if you could be her match, or someone else's.



TO REGISTER AS A DONOR:
http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html
From NOW until May 4: Use code APAMSA509 for FREE REGISTRATION
For more information about Natasha and donating, visit:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=65568844747&ref=share

Also, there is always great need for minority donors.

The support of our school for Natasha reminds me of how presence matters within a group, regardless of what the concrete connections between people are. It's easy to acquire a sort of distaste for the impersonal nature of being in a group, of wanting to remove yourself from it so as to differentiate yourself. To the extreme I think this can end up being something to regret. This is not, of course, to say that we should identify ourselves solely by the outlines of a group at the sacrifice of forgetting what we want and value as individuals. But it seems to me that being your own person doesn't require denying that you are part of something. Even with everything else that goes in the world these days, it's something I often forget. I think the microcosm of school, and the need for people within any sort of community (the limited one of our university and the all-inclusive one of people in general) to remain aware of one another, reminded me of it.

So many people work their entire lives to impact others, in different ways. They acquire skills, build organizations, talk to people. In your jobs, in your personal lives, there is a sense of making some sort of impact, whatever that may mean to you. And I mean impact in a general sense, because so much of what we do is to shape our own lives or those of others, from the small things of going to class or consoling a friend, to the big things of building a family and career, and that is all impact. This takes five minutes of your time, and when else will it be so easy to have the huge impact of possibly saving someone's life?

Once you sign up, you'll receive a simple kit that involves swabbing your cheeks with Q-tips and sending them back. As for the marrow donation itself, please see below for myths and facts. Please consider signing up, and PLEASE spread the word: email your friends, post it on facebook, blog about it. Post the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAvv-7L3J-k), or the facebook group link (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=65568844747&ref=share). It's not spam. She's only 26 years old, and really needs your help to find a donor and survive beyond the next six months.

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Myths and Facts about Bone Marrow Donation
MYTH: The bone marrow donation procedure is painful.
FACT: General or regional anesthesia is always used for this procedure. Donors feel no needle injections and no pain during marrow donation.

MYTH: All bone marrow donations involve surgery.
FACT: The majority of donations do not involve surgery. The patient's doctor most commonly requests a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation, which is non-surgical and does not require a stay in the hospital. If marrow is requested, it is a surgical procedure, but there is still usually no stay in the hospital.

MYTH: Pieces of bone are removed from the donor.
FACT: Pieces of bone are not removed from the donor in either type of donation. A PBSC donation involves taking the drug filgrastim for five days leading up to donation in order to increase the donor's needed blood-forming cells. On the fifth day, blood is taken from the donor through one arm, passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells, and returned through the donor's other arm. In marrow donation, no pieces of bone are taken; only the liquid marrow found inside the bones is needed to save the patient's life.

MYTH: Donating bone marrow is dangerous and weakens the donor.
FACT: Though no medical procedure is without risk, there are rarely any long-term effects from donating. Only five percent or less of a donor's marrow is needed to save a life. After donation, the body replaces the donated marrow within four to six weeks. The NMDP screens all donors carefully to ensure they are healthy and that the procedure is safe. The NMDP also educates donors, answers questions at every step, and follows up after donation.

MYTH: Donors have to pay for the donation procedure.
FACT: Donors never pay for donating. All medical costs are paid by the patient's medical insurance or by the patient, sometimes with NMDP assistance. The NMDP reimburses donors for travel costs, and may reimburse other costs on a case-by-case basis.

Source: www.marrow.org