I have a friend, Stacie. Stacie has a cousin, Tami. That's Tami in the picture. Cute!
Tami is very sick with pre-leukemia and needs your help.
Let me just say, before Stacie told me about Tami I didn't know much about marrow donations. Here are two myths that I found weren't true:
MYTH 1: Donations come from family members.
TRUTH: 70% of donations come from unrelated people!
MYTH 2: You have to undergo surgery to harvest the marrow from your hip if you are a donor.
TRUTH: 70% of marrow donations are extracted from your blood. So, it's like donating blood. And when they take the parts of the blood they need, they return the rest to you!
This weekend there will be a marrow donor drive at the Tech Museum
Sunday, April 12
11 AM - 3 PM
201 S. Market St
San Jose, CA
And here's a bonus: the Tech has FREE ADMISSION on Sunday, April 12.
It only takes 10 minutes. All you have to do is:
1. Complete a brief health questionnaire
2. Sign a consent form to have your tissue type listed on the registry
3. Swab the inside of your mouth with a Q-tip, and the sample will be sent to the National Marrow Donor Program.
4. Tami's tissue type will be compared to yours. If your sample isn't a match, your information will remain in the registry until your 61st birthday with the hope you will be able to save the life of another person in need.
5. The test kits are free to anyone of any minority group or of mixed ethnicity. There is normally a cost of $52 for tissue typing of Caucasians. Thanks to a federal grant, the fee at the Tech on April 12 is reduced to just $25. And it's tax deductible!
So, c'mon out, bring your friends and if you want to volunteer, let Stacie know! For more information and 10 more ways to help, please visit www.HelpingTami.org.
3 comments:
I swapped and just mailed in my samples last week! Hope this marrow drive on Easter Sunday will be a success!
Thank Jewel for the wonderful post. It is very much appreciated. *Hugs* Thanks also Evonne for ordering a test kit. We'll be posting on Tami's blog how the drive went. With it being Easter I figure it will either be really slow or super busy. Hopefully the latter :)
Thank you Evonne for Swabbing and Sending it in and you are most welcome, Stacie! Can't wait to join you at the Tech on Sunday for the Donor Drive.
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