September 22, 2004

The Search Continues

I have spoken with the Director of the Canadian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and with the Doctor responsible for transplant searches at Princess Margaret Hospital. They have both re-affirmed the importance of focussing our efforts along ethnic (or genetic) lines. With this in mind, we have increased our efforts to contact Italians throughout Canada and the United States.

The message is spreading quite rapidly by word of mouth. many thanks to our friends and family who have helped us to start this process.

We now need help in locating and identifying Italian Cultural Organizations across North America (and throughout the world). If anyone can help with contact names and/or phone numbers, please email me the information. If you know who to talk to, please contact them directly yourself and explain the need to find a donor to them. Give them the link to this website and and ask them to contact me by leaving a comment. I try to check the site daily and will usually be able to respond quickly.

We are also working on spreading the word in Italy. A cousin in Rome is working on getting the message posted in the old home town, Ruvo del Monte.

The Registries in each country operate slightly differently, and we are working on understanding the requirements of each. Hopefully we will have some detailed information to post on the website soon.

I would like to remind everyone at this point that ANYONE could be the match we are looking for. Please don't get the impression that only Italians should register. The experts have told us that the best place for us to concentrate our efforts is in the Italian/Mediterannean ethnic community. They have also repeatedly told us that the match could come from anywhere.

Posted by bmt4cathy at 11:11 PM | Comments (3)

September 14, 2004

Open Letter Re: Bone Marrow Transplant

My name is Chris Holder. My wife Cathy has leukemia and needs a Bone Marrow Transplant. She is a Canadian born daughter of Italian parents.

It is a fairly long story, but the bottom line is that currently there is not a matching donor registered with any organization anywhere in the world.

What I am asking for is to have everyone contact their local registry and sign up to become a Bone Marrow Donor.

Additionally, I need help in getting this message out to the greater community. Please copy this letter and discuss it with friends and family. Take it to work and get it posted on bulletin boards. Publish it in community and corporate newsletters. Every person who registers could literally save someone's life.

Information about the process of joining your local Bone Marrow Donor Registry can be found on this website. The procedures for most of the registries in the world are very similar:

> Follow the link for What Can I Donate? - Bone Marrow Registry.
> Select "Joining The Registry" and complete the questionnaire.
> Sign and mail the questionnaire to the closest office.
> The Registry will contact you and verify your willingness to be in the registry.
> An appointment will be set up for you to have a blood sample drawn at a local lab.
> Go to the lab to have the blood sample drawn.

Once your sample has been analyzed, your information will be added to your local Registry. If you are a match for Cathy, or someone else, you will be contacted very quickly, probably within a week or two.

Posted by bmt4cathy at 04:29 AM | Comments (15)