On Wednesday, June 15, I will be swabbing the inside of my cheek to enter myself into the national bone marrow donor database:
This drive is sponsored by the organization, Gift of Life, one of the nation's public bone marrow, stem cell, and umbilical cord registries. What makes Gift of Life unique, is it focuses on adding Jewish people to the national registry. This is important because the best way to find a match for your bone marrow donor is to look within your ethnic group, and Jews are vastly underrepresented in the national registry. But you don't have to be Jewish to attend the drive! All can, and should, enter.
In October, my friend Amanda was found as a stem cell match for a young man with leukemia, and underwent the process to donate (she, a non-Jew, put herself in the national database through Gift of Life). Today, this man is on his way to living a healthy life.
This issue is close to my heart as I watched a close family friend as a child struggle to find a donor as an Ashkenazi Jew. Also, for 5 years I watched my grandmother battle cancer, and while her cancer did not require a donor, if it had, I know I would have discovered the importance of Gift of Life years earlier.
Let me know if you'd like to join me in this effort, and please pass this post and/or the information within, to your friends in and around the district.
L'chaim!
June 15, 2011
6-8pm
at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (2027 Massachusetts Avenue, NW 20036, just off Dupont Circle).
If you're not in DC or can't come on Wednesday and want to learn about future screenings, please click here. (There are also many other organizations who swab, and you can also mail in your swabbing to Gift of Life).
This drive is sponsored by the organization, Gift of Life, one of the nation's public bone marrow, stem cell, and umbilical cord registries. What makes Gift of Life unique, is it focuses on adding Jewish people to the national registry. This is important because the best way to find a match for your bone marrow donor is to look within your ethnic group, and Jews are vastly underrepresented in the national registry. But you don't have to be Jewish to attend the drive! All can, and should, enter.
In October, my friend Amanda was found as a stem cell match for a young man with leukemia, and underwent the process to donate (she, a non-Jew, put herself in the national database through Gift of Life). Today, this man is on his way to living a healthy life.
This issue is close to my heart as I watched a close family friend as a child struggle to find a donor as an Ashkenazi Jew. Also, for 5 years I watched my grandmother battle cancer, and while her cancer did not require a donor, if it had, I know I would have discovered the importance of Gift of Life years earlier.
Let me know if you'd like to join me in this effort, and please pass this post and/or the information within, to your friends in and around the district.
L'chaim!
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