Hi Everyone,I’d like to take a little time to tell you about a bone marrow drive that the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association is hosting on Thursday, May 24th at Bruin Plaza between 12:30 and 2:30PM.  We would love to see all of you participate!  Please see the details of the event below:MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive Thursday, May 24th 12:30 – 2:30 pmBruin PlazaHosted by UCLA APAMSA and Pre-med APAMSA********************************************************************************************BE A MARROW DONOREvery year 35,000 patients are diagnosed with a blood-related disease like leukemia. In order to survive, they will need a bone marrow transplant from a matching donor. WHY MINORITY DONORS ARE ESPECIALLY NEEDEDBecause bone marrow is inherited genetically, a patient will most likely find a matching donor from within their ethnic group.  Unfortunately, minority donors represent less than 30% of the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.  It is especially important that more Asian Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, Native Americans, and multiracials join the registry.  Diversify the donor pool to give more patients a second chance at life.HOW TO REGISTERF  Fill out a consent form Provide a tissue sample using a mouth swab (NO needles or blood draws!)AM I ELIGIBLE?Ages 18 - 60 In good general health (individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes, severe asthma, and disc-related back problems may not be eligible)No minimum weight requirementMalarial risk travel is acceptableALREADY REGISTERED?You do not have to retest; simply update your contact information.  NEED MORE INFO?Contact Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M) at:1-888-236-4673  www.AsianMarrow.org Or the National Marrow Donor Program at: 1-800-627-7692    www.marrow.org ********************************************************************************************Also, I’d like to mention that this particular drive is being held to benefit Sam Cross, a 21 year old Harvard student who has been recently diagnosed with leukemia.  To find out more about him, please read the following letter from his parents, Fred Cross and Elizabeth Kim:********************************************************************************************I would like to introduce myself.  My name is Fred Cross; I am a professor of genetics at the Rockefeller University, of Caucasian background, married to Elizabeth Kim, who arrived from Korea at the age of 12.  We have a son, Sam, who is currently a senior at Harvard.  Over the winter break he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.  He has been undergoing extensive chemotherapy.  It is possible that a final cure for this deadly disease may require a bone marrow transplant.  Unfortunately, even though there are currently more than 7 million donors registered internationally, none are an exact tissue typing (HLA) match for Sam, since he has a relatively rare Caucasian haplotype from me and a more typical Asian one from his mom.  Therefore, the most likely source for a perfect match for Sam are people with both Caucasian and Asian ancestry (1/2, 1/4 or 3/4 Asian could all be fine).Registering as a potential bone marrow donor is completely painless, involving filling out a form and taking a cheek swab.  Most potential donors are never asked to donate; the donation process itself involves only some inconvenience and moderate discomfort, and of course has the potential to save a life.  The removed stem cells are rapidly regenerated by the donor’s body so there are no medical consequences at all for the donor.Kits for registering as a potential donor are available from DKMS Americas (http://www.dkmsamericas.org/donors/become.html) including a pre-paid FedEx package for returning the material.  DKMS Americas will provide HLA testing and entry into the registry for absolutely anybody independent of racial or ethnic background, for no fee.DKMS Americas will also help you organize a local drive if you are at all interested in doing this.  Mostly they need a local contact person.Another organization that will provide kits through the mail, and that also helps organize drives, is AADP: http://www.aadp.org/become_a_donor.html.Sam is registered on Facebook, and you can also get some information about him on a website generated by his uncle: http://www.helpsamiam.com.I would like to emphasize that our interest here extends way beyond just finding a donor for our son.  In the U.S., only about a fifth of patients needing bone marrow transplants can find donors, and this problem is particularly acute for those of mixed racial backgrounds, due to differing distributions of HLA types among human sub-populations.  We encourage people of all ethnic backgrounds to register.Sincerely,Fred Cross and Elizabeth Kim********************************************************************************************Sincerely,Chris Nguyen and Christine ChenAPAMSA Bone Marrow Chairs

	Size	(click to download)
	584.88 KB	UCLAMarrowPoster.pdf