Bone Marrow Registry
The Matchpia project was started to save one life.
Matchpia has now recruited over 30,000 potential donors of South Asian origin within the US. Apart from Pia, fifteen patients will be able to go into transplants every year for the next ten years.
Matchpia is now on a recruitment drive in India. More here. The registration process is harmless, involving only a small amount of blood being drawn. In fact, the initial testing process requires no blood, as saliva is taken from the mouth via cotton swabs. The sample is typed for a match and if successful, the donor will be asked to donate stem cells extracted from their blood. All donors are entered into a registry for possible future matching.
Please participate if you can. Please spread the word!
We found them one day at the temple in Maryland and it was heartening to see many people lining up to sign on. As you say, the process is very simple and given the potential impact on lives, crazily simple.
Comment by Sujatha — January 24, 2007 @ 3:31 am