After a very difficult couple days, I'm putting out an appeal on behalf of my dear friend whose husband's leukemia has just progressed into the "blast phase"; he's been admitted for 4 to 6 weeks of daily chemotherapy.
He will need a bone marrow transplant. As an African American male, he is at a disadvantage because the pool of donors is statistically much smaller for minorities. Tissue types need to match for a transplant to be successful, and since tissue types are inherited, a patient is more likely to match with someone from their own race or ethnicity.
I ask this for a selfish reason, obviously, I want my friend's husband to survive this, but the truth is, there are thousands more who will benefit as well -- please, if you are in a position to appeal to undergraduate or alum chapters about joining the bone marrow registry, please do. It's really as easy as a blood test. But the more people we get into the system, the more my friend and thousands like him have a chance to live.
Please ask fellow greeks, your co-workers, your friends, anyone who isn't already in the registry to consider joining. Thank you and here's a link to read more about the National Marrow Donor Program:
http://www.marrow.org/ABOUT/Need_for_Donors/index.html
Sorry for the PSA, I just hate feeling so helpless about this and am just trying to feel like I'm doing SOMEthing.