Fwd: Bone Marrow drive for my brother Tarak
Yamanoor Srihari
From: shirupa gupta <shirup...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Subject: Fwd: Bone Marrow drive for my brother Tarak
To: arch...@googlegroups.com, Nirupa Gupta <nirup...@gmail.com>, Ajith Kumar <ajithk...@gmail.com>, Aradhana Ramkumar <aradha...@gmail.com>, Anand <anandsh...@gmail.com>, Balasubramanian Narayanaswamy <balasubramania...@gmail.com>, Bindhu Kumar <bindh...@gmail.com>, krish...@gmail.com, Ramji down But not yet out <citize...@gmail.com>, kumarrit...@gmail.com, Divya Arora <aror...@gmail.com>, Enitha Ganesan <eni...@gmail.com>, lalitha g <lalit...@gmail.com>, "Rajesh ....." <hrajes...@yahoo.com>, hemakri...@gmail.com, in.mood...@gmail.com, sripallavi jasti <palla...@gmail.com>, kavitha sambandam <kavig...@gmail.com>, Karan Kappal <karan....@gmail.com>, Mathangi Subramanian <mathangi.s...@gmail.com>, murugan soma <mur...@yahoo.com>, Nitin Khurana <khur...@gmail.com>, nived...@gmail.com, Padma Priya Sekar <padmapr...@gmail.com>, Prabha R <prabha...@gmail.com>, Priyanka Raghavan <priyanka...@gmail.com>, Thamaraiselvi Ammaiyappan <thamarai...@gmail.com>, Vivekananth Thangavelu <viveka...@gmail.com>, Yamanoor Srihari <yama...@gmail.com>, Narasimha Sairam Yamanoor Pneumatics clicked <yamanoo...@gmail.com>
Hi Everyone,
Ramya is a close friend of mine from Madurai....Please read the following two mails to help Tarak Balaji (Director, Delphi Technical Center, Bangalore...38 year old...married with 2 kids)...who has been diagnosed with leukemia and they are yet to find a matching bone-marrow for him.
There are bone-marrow drives happening in Chennai and Bangalore....so all of you there can be of great help
.
Please forward this mail to all the friends and relatives, you think can help.
Probably you can save a life !
Thanks & Regards,
Shirupa
From: Ramya Venkat <ramy...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 7:53 AM
Subject: Fwd: Bone Marrow drive for my brother Tarak
To:
Cc: "M@th@ngi R@jesh" <matha...@gmail.com>
From: Mathangi Rajesh <matha...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 6:24 AM
Subject: Bone Marrow drive for my brother Tarak
To: matha...@gmail.com
Tarak's scenario now is that he has undergone 2 cycles of chemotherapy.Both cycles after the chemotherapy when he had very low WBC , he caught infections
which ended with high fevers and long hospitalization.
Unfortunately for us, both me and my sister's dont match with my brother's HLA typing.. His 'HLA typing' is registered in the NMDP(biggest bone marrow registry in the world based in the US). They told us they do not have a 10/10 match as of now.
It is known that an Indian is more likely to get a match from a person of similar ethnicity(south asian).A coordinator in a bone marrow registry in chennai has told us that likelyhood of match is more in specific ethinicity i.e .. 'tamil brahmin', to be even more specific aTanjore District Iyer vadamal belonging to Bharadhwaja Gothram or Kaushika Gothram (my parents gothrams) have more chances to be a match. If not the gothrams match, atleast a Tanjore District Iyer Vadama has slightly greater chance than any other person in the world since we may all have the same roots.
Earlier the bone marrow drive which was organised by "Datri" used to be free of cost to perform HLA typing for everyone. Now they charge $50 per person(Rs 2250) in order to get the HLA typing done in the US. If you can afford this price of HLA typing, please fund it for your HLA typing which would be of great help to us while we are incurring expensive treatment costs. If you are not able to fund it for your HLA typing, we will fund your HLA typing by paying $50.
Also, "Datri" is linked to NMDP which is the Bone marrow registry helping people worldwide, so you will be entered into this registry and may have the chance to save somebody's life. Every person of same ethnicity in the database is one more chance for a match.
Please see the FAQ section below which would help answer your questions regarding eligibility, HLA typing test and later if you are found to be the donor, the procedure for the Bone marrow transplant.
If you can please get a bunch of known people to donate their samples, we can get the testing kits accordingly and organise a drive during a weekend here in Bangalore and in Chennai. If next weekend(19/2-20/2) works best for everyone, we will go with it as we would like to get the match asap. The sooner we get a match and perform BMT, the better it is for Tarak as he doesn't have to undergo more cycles of chemotherapy and its painful side effects.We are looking to gather atleast 50 -100 people in Chennai and 50-100 in Bangalore.
I had seen many ads in newspapers/websites before regarding bone marrow drives but I never volunteered to become a donor as I didn't totally understand how much value it had to save somebody's life. And then... it hit home, to my own dear brother and now I totally realise how much a bone marrow match could help cure and save his life. I am not a match for my brother but I am adding my HLA typing information to the NMDP registry so I may have the chance to save somebody's life sometime.
Thank you for your time and I hope you become a donor and I hope you be a perfect donor match for my brother.
Thank you,
Mathangi Rajesh
FAQs-
1.What is bone marrow transplantation?
Bone marrow transplantation involves extracting bone marrow containing normal stem cells from a healthy donor, and transferring it to a recipient whose body cannot produce proper quantities of normal blood cells. The goal of the transplant is to rebuild the recipient's blood cells and immune system and hopefully cure the underlying ailment.
2. What is PBSC transplantation?
Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) obtained from circulating blood can also be used instead of bone marrow cells. The amount of stem cells found in the peripheral blood is much smaller than the amount of stem cells found in the bone marrow. PBSC transplants have shown faster haematopoietic and immune recovery when compared to bone marrow transplants. It also reduces the potential for disease recurrence, primarily graft-versus-host-disease. There exist cases where a recipient cannot accept bone marrow stem cell transplants, but can accept PBSC transplants.
3. How do bone marrow/PBSC transplants help people with cancer?
Chemotherapy or radiations used to treat certain cancers are high-dose treatments that can destroy or severely damage the patient’s bone marrow, thereby decreasing the number of blood cells available to transport oxygen throughout the body. A bone marrow/PBSC transplant will help patients fight against cancer. After the patient receives a high dosage of chemotherapy or radiation, the patient receives the donor marrow by intravenous (IV) injection, similar to a blood transfusion, following which the new bone marrow starts to produce new blood cells, replacing all cancerous cells.
4. Why should I become a donor?
In case a patient needs a transplant, there is only 25% chance of finding a match within his family. However, 70% of patients do not find a suitable donor in their family. In such cases there is a need to find an unrelated donor or a cord blood unit through the donor registries. Every donor can help save the life of a patient in need. You can be one too!
5. What are the eligibility criteria to become a donor?
Any person between the age group of 18 to 60, with no major ailments such as HIV, hepatitis B/C, cardiac illness, diabetes, auto immune disorders, chronic lung disease, obesity, etc can be a donor. On a thorough examination of physical fitness, and the individual’s HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) typing being compatible, one can become a potential donor.
6.What do I have to do to register myself as a donor?
Having satisfied the basic criteria, you just need to give oral swab samples (No blood needed!!). The samples are then processed and the typings are stored with the registry.
7. What is buccal swab sample, and how do I collect it?
Buccal swabbing is an effective, quick, and painless DNA sample collection technique that involves rubbing a cotton swab, similar to those used in personal care, against the inside of the cheek. The rubbing motion collects loose cheek cells, and these cells contain enough DNA to be used in DNA tests. Buccal swabbing is painless, noninvasive and easy to do.
8. If I am found to be a potential marrow donor, what next?
If your bone marrow appears to be a suitable match for someone waiting for a transplant, you’ll be contacted immediately. You'll undergo a brief examination to find if your bone marrow can be transplanted. Your physical fitness is examined to ensure that you are medically eligible to donate. Once you are found to be a potential donor, sufficient information about the process involved is provided, and a simple and harmless procedure is performed.
9. What is the procedure for donating?
Bone marrow: Once the donor is committed to donate, his/her bone marrow cells are harvested by giving general or regional anesthesia using a surgical process, with no pain during the process. Bone marrow is drawn from the hip bone to either side of the lower back with a special needle and a syringe. The amount of bone marrow drawn is only a small percentage of the total bone marrow and is typically replaced within four weeks. The donor remains at the hospital for 24-48 hours and can resume normal activities within a few days.
Peripheral Blood Stem Cells:
In PBSC transplantation, blood is drawn from a vein from one arm and is passed through a machine that removes the blood-forming cells. Rest of the blood is returned through a vein into the other arm. The procedure to donate PBSC takes approximately 4-6 hours.
10. Does a marrow transplant hurt?
If you decide to register as a bone marrow donor and a match is found, you will be directed for a transplantation procedure. You won't feel any pain during the surgical removal of your bone marrow cells. The anesthesia will keep you comfortable. Most people go back to their normal activities soon afterward and others take a few weeks. Bone marrow regenerates itself in about four to six weeks, and you’ll have the same amount of bone marrow you started out with in just a short amount of time.
11. Once registered, can I refuse to become a donor any time?
Being a donor is absolutely voluntary. In case you are found to be a possible match, and pertaining to health or other issues you are unable to become a donor at a later time, you must inform the registry. This will help us to avoid delay and continue our search for another donor
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