I just came to know that the bone marrow drive for Mrs. Kelli Wynne set a new world record with the Guinness Book of World Records. Mrs. Wynne is fighting acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and her family and friends have set up a bone marrow drive last saturday. The highest number of bone marrow donors registered within a 24-hour period was 277 in Austria. I came to know that over 1000 people showed up for the bone marrow drive held on the 17th January 2009 at Madison Junior School.
A big thanks to everyone who showed up and registered as donors.
I wish her a fast recovery.
Kelli Wynne from Madison, NJ was diagnosed with blood and bone marrow cancer during January 2007. She has been going through chemotherapy treatments from then. Although the treatment was making progress, doctors have said now that she needs a bone marrow transplant.
Kelli Wynne did not find a matching donor at National Bone Marrow Program Registry. Her famiily member’s marrow also did not match.
So she needs HELP….from you all. Friends and family of Kelli have organized a bone marrow camp at Madison Junior School, 160 Main St, Madison, NJ 07940 on January 17 2009 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
DKMS, the largest bone marrow center in the world is organizing the event.
Mark the date - its JANUARY 17 2009. Please go there and register for bone marrow donation.
View Larger Map
If you cannot attend but want to participate, or if you would like more information, please visit www.dkmsamericas.org, or call 1-866-340-3567.
It is in the news today that Steve Jobs of Apple fame has been going through some hormone imbalance and hence he has become thin. Blogs and news outlets all around the world were predicting a really bad news but Apple put out a letter from Steve that quelled those rumors.
I missed writing about Pancreatic Cancer before and I thought this may be an appropriate time. Each year almost 40,000 people in the U.S get affected by Pancreatic Cancer. The real bad part is most of these people die from the disease. The most common form of Pancreatic Cancer is called Adenocarcinoma and it carries a life expectancy of about a year or so. Fortunately Steve Jobs had an another form of Pancreatic Cancer called Neuroendocrine also called as islet cell tumors. These tumors can be surgically removed and does not involve any radiation or chemotheraphy.
And about Steve’s hormone imbalance - he is getting treatment for that and should be getting fatter by next Spring.
I came across the news of a five year old boy needing bone marrow transplant. I was surprised and then read more about him. Jacob suffers from X-linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (XLP) , a rare form of cancer and immune system deficiency. I was really sad to know that he was diagnosed with XLP when he was a month old. XLP affects only males and if left untreated it can be fatal.
Jacob had a unsuccessful bone marrow transplant last year and is trying to get an another one. Doctors using chemotheraphy have wiped out XLP from his body but untill a bone marrow donor can be found, Jacob cannot come out of the clean room environment at the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Also there are chances that XLP can reoccur so he needs a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible.
Blood donation keeps Jacob alive until he finds the correct donor.
To make an appointment to donate blood in Pico Rivera, call Rebecca Salcido at (562) 949-4668. To donate blood or platelets through Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, call (323) 660-2450.
Thanks to whittierdailynews for the information.
I am happy to note that Sen. George H. Bunting Jr from Delaware, received a kidney transplant through paired donation last month. Both he and his wife, Donna are recovering well. The Senator’s wife donated her kidney to a relative of the Senator’s donor.
An another piece of info here is that they both used the Paired Kidney Exchange Program at the John Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore.
Learn about Paired Donation
Other Paired Donation Success Stories