Pioneer News PDF
4/23/2009
CSU and San Jose Tech Museum Offer Marrow Donor Drive
In February, when Stacie Tamaki’s cousin Tami was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a chronic anemia sometimes called “preleukemia,” Tamaki did not know it would be difficult to find a bone marrow donor for Tami.
“Statistics from the National Registry show that 7.4 million people are registered in the donor program,” said Tamaki. “5.4 million are Caucasian and (only) 3,260 are Japanese-American.”
“So her odds are very poor,” Tamaki said.“Thankfully they do pull all the international donors together. She will be matched against the registry in China.”
To tackle the shortage of non-Caucasian bone marrow donors, the American Asian Donor Program (AADP) has teamed up with the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose and the California State University system.
A bone marrow drive was held April 12 at the Tech Museum while additional drives were held at Cal State East Bay on April 14 and 15 and at CSU Sacramento on April 15.
Tamaki, a member of helpingtami.org and one of the organizers of the Tech Museum drive, explained that the effort has the potential to benefit all patients in need.
“If the donors do not match my cousin they might match someone else,” she said.
Officials of the National Bone Marrow Donor Program say they have a registry that numbers in the millions but there continues to be a need for racially and ethnically diverse donors.
“There is a significant higher chance of getting a match if the patient is Caucasian,” said Sudeshna Sen Gupta, outreach coordinator at AADP. “Caucasians have an 80 to 90 percent chance. But for a minority or multiracial patient, the chances are 20 to 30 percent or less.”
Gupta believes minorities are not registering to become donors because there is a lack of awareness within the communities.
“We are working to get more minorities into the National Registry,” said Gupta. “Because tissue typing is based on genetics, race and ethnicity, minority patients will need minority donors.
Admission to the Tech Museum was free to all visitors on Sunday regardless.
“I wanted to do some good in the world,” said Melany Moore, a resident of Los Gatos who showed up at the Tech Museum April 12. Moore enjoyed the Tech Museum with her daughter Monet after registering to become a donor.
“They use four Q-tip[s],” said Annie Lin, 25, of San Francisco. “They take samples from both sides of the mouth. Two samples from the on top and two from the bottom.”
“The process was really easy,” said Inori Thies, 35, of Sunnyvale. “It took about five minutes.”
AADP will continue to hold drives at CSU campuses throughout the year.
“The turnout has been decent,” said Glenna Lee, volunteer coordinator at AADP. “We have gotten a warm response from the students.”
Gupta said the effort guarantees the privacy of all participants.
“All information provided by the donor and or patient is confidential,” said Gupta. “People will only be contacted if they are a match.”
If you wish to become a bone marrow donor and/or want more information on ways to help AADP, please log on to www.aadp.org.
The Writer:
By Alexah Delacueva
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