Girl Genius

azizisbored:

BECOME A BONE MARROW DONOR PEOPLE. 

I posted about this a few weeks ago and just wanted to update.  

Amit Gupta has acute leukemia. He needs a bone marrow donor to survive. Unfortunately, South Asians are really unrepresented and his chance of finding a match are low. So I’m encouraging all of you (in particular brown folks) to join the registry. All you do is swab your cheek with the q-tip looking things (as seen above) and send it in. It takes 3 minutes and it can save someone’s life.

Click here to get a kit and swab your cheek. 

Amit needs your kit BEFORE November 30th. Seriously, just click and do this. You get a kit in the mail, swab your cheek with some q-tips, and put it in the mail. Done. Couldn’t be easier. If you know any brown people, harass them to do this. Be racist if you need to. (Ok don’t be racist, but encourage them to do it.)

For more info go to: www.amitguptaneedsyou.com.

I just read more about this on marrow.org and it turns out there’s a lot of races they need. I don’t know why I thought they only needed Southeast Asians. From their FAQ page:

 

Q: Does race or ethnicity affect matching?
A: Racial and ethnic heritage are very important factors. Patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. Today, there simply aren’t enough registry members of diverse racial and ethnic heritage. Adding more diverse members increases the likelihood that all patients will find a life-saving match.

Members of these backgrounds are especially needed:

• Black or African American
• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian, including South Asian
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
• Hispanic or Latino
• Multiple race

Wow. Come on, ya’ll! That is basically most people I know! It’s completely FREE (even though IIIII donated $10. I know, I know, it’s a recession. Don’t want to flaunt my money. But I’m rich.*) Be ready to commit, but really, the chances aren’t TOO high (1/450^a) that you’ll have to do it. But I talked to my mom about it** and even if you do, its essentially a huge needle & a day (or a week) off work.^b And then YOU’VE SAVED A LIFE. SERIOUSLY everyone! I will ask everyone to this. In fact, I’VE FINALLY BEEN INSPIRED FOR MY FIRST TATTOO (which is allowed for donors^c).

Haaaahhhhh….psyche! Like I’d ever get a tattoo. But this, I’ve already signed up for. I’ll update you with the process.

*sarcasm

**Mommy Dukes is a (now retired!!!) registered nurse for the CCU & ICU. They also suggested on the site that you talk to a loved one about it so, 2 birds, one stone. She super encouraged me to do it. I think it was a proud moment for her that I asked.