Comments on: In NYC This Weekend? GO. If Not, Read on…

By: Hari Putra

Hari Putra — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:41:27 +0000

"Who can become a marrow / stem cell donor?

You must be between 18 and 60 years old, have no history of hepatitis, heart disease, cancer or AIDS, and sign a consent form allowing the Registry to include your HLA tissue type in its confidential files for future matching. See NMDP link below for more details: Donor information (NMDP) and Donor Eligibility Guidelines."

Oh, and don't forget: you can't be gay. Even if you're a potential match, willing to donate. Sucks for Vinay and Sameer, doesn't it?

By: rads

rads — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:39:31 +0000

FYI – there was a bone Marrow drive booth setup at TANA 2007 – DC Convention center over the July 4th Weekend [Fri-Sat] and it was a good success. Quite a few folks signed up, the booth was crowded everytime I walked past. I’d registered earlier and had sent in a few friends over to the booth on Sat.

Strongly hope this makes a difference.

By: Cognoscenti

Cognoscenti — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:31:56 +0000

Well, what do you know? Barack Obama has joined the campaign for Vinay: http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004551.html

Democratic presidential candidate, US Senator Barack Obama, has joined the personal campaign of Vinay Chakravarthy struggling to find a donor of South Asian origin to help him undergo a bone marrow transplant to alleviate a life-threatening form of leukemia he is suffering from...

Is this opportunism on his part? Is he doing this just to win back the brown voters after his Hillary (D-Punjab) fiasco?

By: Rahul

Rahul — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 23:42:06 +0000

If this were your girlfriend, your boyfriend, â€¦youâ€™d be hoping and praying for someone to be a match.

Not if you're Newt Gingrich. I have always been very impressed that his parents could see so the future so clearly that they gave him the name of a slimy lizard.

Alright, sorry for that threadjack.

By: chick pea

chick pea — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 22:52:53 +0000

p.s. bmt–bone marrow transplant p.p.s. vinay is attending the drive in nyc SO go if you’re in town!

By: chick pea

chick pea — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 22:47:14 +0000

process being 'experimental' The hospital board did not approve it, could a similar situation occur here? Maybe those in the medical profession could shed some light?

hmf: if i remember the movie correctly, this guy had metastatic renal cell carcinoma..(white wife/black hubby, right?--i walked outta the movie being so disgruntled with the healthcare system...not the way to celebrate the end of residency..)

to be quite frank, (being the cancer doctor that i am), BMT therapy for metastatic renal cell is QUITE experimental (we don't do it at our institution).. metastatic (spread throughout body) renal cell isn't cureable--BMT is not common therapy..

on the other hand, AML and most blood disorders are CUREABLE and are not experimental...and WOULD NEVER BE REFUSED!!!!

so it was a different type of cancer completely.. hope this helped... (back to the stacks to study).

By: Rahul

Rahul — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 22:17:34 +0000

I just stopped by a drive today towards the end of the day. The "good" news is that they got such a huge response that they ran out of kits, and are planning to schedule another drive in the area. The bad news is that all these drives seem to have netted only around 10,000 to 11,000 samples. With a 1 in 20,000 probability of success, that is less than 1 match in expectation (and that discounts the 60-70% back-out rate). Surely, the 1-million+ Indian American community can do better than this?

By: Roopa

Roopa — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 20:48:45 +0000

The process of a bone marrow transplant is a standardized medical procedure, and no hospital housing patients in need of a transplant would EVER refuse to do one. It’s not experimental at all; it is a highly specialized, well-thought out, and carefully practiced endeavor to save patient’s lives. So basically no chance of hospital refusing to perform it.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 13:21:48 +0000

I realize that India itself does not currently have a registry (making this conclusion based on clarifications on earlier posts) but what about getting samples from India. I remember reading a comment or post that indicated that Vinay’s family in India is being swabbed and tested, but are there more widespread efforts in India? I think (and I might be going out on a limb here that India has tons of Indians, although there they just call them people.

Of course, I have no idea if sample compatibility testing facilities are available or affordable enough in India for this to be realistic.

By: HMF

HMF — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 04:11:53 +0000

This is somewhat related, but somewhat tangential as well. But in the movie ‘Sicko’ there’s a story where a similar bone marrow match is being sought out, and one is actually found, but the hospital refuses to do the service based on the process being ‘experimental’ The hospital board did not approve it, could a similar situation occur here? Maybe those in the medical profession could shed some light?