Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Can you help save Devan from a rare leukemia?

This one came through AFSA:

Devan, the four-year old son of Bloomberg Diplomatic Correspondent Indira Lakshmanan, who has worked closely with AFSA, has relapsed into a rare leukemia, for which only a bone-marrow transplant can save his life. The problem is that only 1 in 200,000 people are possible matches. The hope is that perhaps among AFSA's nearly 15,000 multi-ethnic members (or families) might be a bone marrow match (especially among those FSOs or family members who might be Indo-American as Devan is).

PERSONAL MESSAGE from Bloomberg correspondent Indira Lakshmanan follows):


--Our only child Devan needs your help. He's four and has relapsed with a rare form of high-risk leukemia. His doctors believe his life depends on a bone marrow transplant that they hope to do after 12 weeks of chemotherapy. What is difficult is finding a donor match - 1 in 200,000 in his case, we've been told - and we haven't found one yet.  You or someone you know might be the person who can save Devan's life. All you need to do is a simple cheek swab to find out. The organizations below will send you a kit. Donating is easy - these days it's much like a simple blood draw.

1. PLEASE, REGISTER NOW. The test is easy & free, but processing takes time (up to 8-10 weeks), and Devan doesn't have much time left. Please Register below.

2. PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON TO OTHERS. Anyone can be a match, but those who are mixed Indian/Caucasian have an even better chance of helping Devan. Please cut and paste this message to strip out any private email addresses and forward this to everyone you can. By forwarding this email to at least 10 people now, we can spread the word to 50,000 possible donors within 48 hours.

3. VISIT DEVAN'S SITE - www.matchdevan.com - we will be including details on how to organize your own drive, valuable information on leukemia and FAQ's on registering and donation.

WHERE TO REGISTER:

=> In the US go to Be The Match Bone Marrow Registry, http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html (you need to be 60 or under)

=> In the UK go to the Anthony Nolan Trust, http://bit.ly/cpkxuy (you'll need to be 40 or under)

=> In other countries go to Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide,
http://bmdw.org/index.php?id=addresses_members&no_cache=1 ---

Finally, if you're pregnant, your cord blood is particularly valuable for helping children like Devan - please look here to learn more: http://parentsguidecordblood.org/content/usa/banklists/publicbanks_new.shtml?navid=15

Thank you so much for helping.

Love from Dev's parents, Indira and Dermot

Please pass along if you can. Thank you!





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2 comments:

A Daring Adventure said...

Just wanted you to know - I linked to your awesome self today:

http://bit.ly/aOEm5V

DiploSearching said...

This post reminded me to update my contact info - I registered in college and had an old email address on file.

To update contact information: call - 1(800)MARROW-2 or email at www.BeTheMatch.com/update