Earlier this month I joined the Bone Marrow Registry. Why, because my wife has a friend who has been diagnosed with Bone Marrow Disease and will eventually need a transplant to save her life. Her name is Krissy Kobata a 25 year old girl from LA. back in June the Long Beach Press-Telegram did a story on her fight to save her life against this rare disorder and her friends, family and The City of Hope have banned together to help find a match for her.
The only problem they are finding is that since Krissy is of mixed heritage (Japanese/Caucasian), her odds of finding a match drop drastically. Even her brother was not a match for her. Over the past few months the bone marrow registry drives have been successful in registering hundreds of donors but not one person has come up to match Krissy. I urge you all to join the Bone Marrow registry…the test so simple…a cotton swab to the inside or your mouth. That is it! A saliva sample gives them enough info to see if you are a match. Plus if you do match someone you can literately save a life. Unfortunately a few years back a friend of a friend died of bone marrow disease because a match could not be found…she was also of mix-race Indian/Caucasian.
More diverse donors are needed! Only 30% of the patients find matches amongst their families, 70% have to search for an unrelated donor to have that second chance at life. To know more about marrow donation and upcoming drives please visit: http://www.asianmarrow.org or www.marrow.org
on Aug 28th, 2008
Krissy has also been working with Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M) and collaborating with people in other parts of the country. She also has a new website. http://teamkrissy.weebly.com/index.html Please help spread the word!