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Brown in America

I know what you’re thinking, I don’t need your reasons, Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts

By: Karthik :+: Under: Brown in America
On: ⋅ May 30, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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People who know me, know that I travel A LOT. And every other time when I am waiting for a connection, I manage to spot a very lost old desi couple. People who look a few years older than my parents, people who like my parents would be a little lost and confused in a “foreign” country.

And every possible time I walk them to their gate, even lend them my phone so they can call their loved ones and let them know that they are safe and doing ok. All this with the expectation that one day, when my parents are lost and need help, someone will come to their aid.

I share a lot in common with Vinay and I am sure you will too and he needs our help, right now. Vinay has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and there is something that you and I can do.

There are not enough South Asians in the bone marrow registry. Since Vinay is Indian, there is a greater likelihood of finding a match among the same population as we share similar genes (genetic markers). It is important that as many Indians join the Bone Marrow Registry in the upcoming weeks to maximize Vinay’s chances of finding a suitable donor.

Just like I expect that some random desi will help my parents, adding yourself and your friends to the registry might come in handy.

There are many ways in which you can help, but I urge you to register yourself at the National Marrow Donor Program.

Here is why

When a Caucasian is looking for a match they find 15 matches on an average where as opposed to an Indian they might find one match or none.

This can happen to anyone at any age and god forbid if you get into similar situation then this will be the only registry that will come to rescue.

There is no such registry in India and when an Indian kid is looking for a marrow match this registry is the only resort.

Registration takes less than a minute and a simple swab of cheek cells is taken to find your tissue type. This in my opinion is the least that we could do as human beings to help another one of us.

A brief glance suggests that if you are found to be a match, the process is a little more complicated than a simple blood donation, so I request you to read the information before you decide to sign up. And NO, it might hurt is not a reason I am ready to accept, not this time.

I am signing up and I suggest that you do too and let us not stop there, let us get everyone we know to sign up. We never know when one of us might need to use this registry.

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