Comments on: Maya’s Slim Chance – Bone Marrow Donor Needed

By: Human-Centered Design: Bone Marrow Edition | The Dragonfly Effect

Human-Centered Design: Bone Marrow Edition | The Dragonfly Effect — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:05:27 +0000

[...] the national registry more than a year ago after hearing another one of those sad stories: That of Maya Chamberlain, a 4-year-old girl with a rare blood disease. I sent for my free registration kit from the National [...]

By: Human-Centered Design: Bone Marrow Edition | The Dragonfly Effect

Human-Centered Design: Bone Marrow Edition | The Dragonfly Effect — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:05:27 +0000

By: Bone Dry: Amit Gupta and the South Asian Bone Marrow Problem « bann.me

Bone Dry: Amit Gupta and the South Asian Bone Marrow Problem « bann.me — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:09:55 +0000

By: Lynn Rike

Lynn Rike — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:33:58 +0000

I would love to be a donor but I was not allowed to register due to chronic back pain due to a buldging L5 S1 and I have to take pain meds. But if that is the problem couldnt that be a minor bump? Please contact me and let me know what or if there is anything I can do to donate bone marrow.

Lynn Rike

Thank you

You will be in my prayers.

God bless you.

By: Taz

Taz — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:51:12 +0000

All I know was that the recipient is a '4-year-old child', chances are it might be for Maya.

If you are, please let me know!

By: ctrlalteredmind

ctrlalteredmind — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:25:31 +0000

I came up as a potential donor match and had my blood test done for the remainder of the matching process. All I know was that the recipient is a ’4-year-old child’, chances are it might be for Maya. I’m eager to see if I am approved for the donation, can’t wait to help out.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:52:21 +0000

The process of becomming a registered bone marrow donor is free and can be done at home! Please go to http://www.marrow.org to find out how!

Mayas father drew up a .pdf poster about her that also tells how you can become a registered bone marrow donor. Its perfect for printing or for emailing out to your friends! It can be downloaded at: http://www.lifedonors.org/mayachamberlin.pdf

You can also keep up with Maya at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/concentrate

Thank you!

By: AnjaliToo

AnjaliToo — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:19:57 +0000

I was disqualified because of my Asthma, or more specifically, because I’ve been hospitalized for it in the last two years. And according to them that means that my Asthma isn’t well controlled. I understand that they have to be through and strict on their guidelines, but, I think having one Asthma attack and being hospitalized for it in the last 8 years is pretty well controlled. The questions could be a bit more streamlined and/or specific. Oh well.

By: razib

razib — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:19:28 +0000

as a future parent i have worried about this. the closer i get to becoming a father the more worries i start having about these sorts of issues, aside from excitement. i have been told this is not uncommon. interesting point about autoimmune diseases. if the recent reich et al. paper is correct american south asians should have a lot of inbreeding related diseases.

By: Yoga Fire

Yoga Fire — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:24:11 +0000

I too agree that medical field has advanced enough to test blood instead of leaving a large segment of population from registering to donate.

They can test blood for a lot of the stuff they screen, including the malaria risks that usually prevent me from donating. But transporting and testing blood is expensive and they'd rather minimize the amount they end up having to throw out by trying to reduce the total amount of "bad" blood they get.

Of course, so far as the gay = HIV thing goes, this isn't the '80s and while gay men do still have a higher rate of HIV infection that many other groups, the HIV rate has gone down enough that the donation drives can probably safely stop screening them out. Of course there is a reason it's a red cross, so don't hold your breath.

As for lack of South Asian donors, that probably has a lot to do with the fact that the vast majority of our homelands are classified as malaria risks. You can get on the registry just by registering, but the way they get most people is by having them check a box while they give blood. Since anyone who actually goes back to visit family is automatically disqualified from giving blood for like, a year, it's easy to see why so few of us end up on the registry.