While browsing through my social network feeds, I...

While browsing through my social network feeds, I came across a photo on Instagram last week from Photojojo founder, Amit Gupta; in which he mentioned his recent diagnosis of leukemia.

While reading about it and all the comments that followed, I reacted the way most of us do when we hear terrible news about someone we don’t personally know - I felt bad (and said a quick prayer, but maybe that’s just me), but shortly found myself occupied with something else.

It sounds pretty bad when you think about it, but that’s exactly what most of do. And that’s what I did - until last night.

Last night, I came across another post by Amit where he mentions his need for a bone marrow transplant. Honestly, I initially had the same reaction; I felt bad, said a quick prayer, and was pretty much on my way to something else. But something in his post caught my attention:

…minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool.

The national bone marrow registry has 9.5 million records on file, yet the chances of someone from South Asian descent of finding a match are only 1 in 20,000.

Being of Indian descent, this stood out to me directly.

I thought about it for a minute, and decided to Google & Wikipedia “bone marrow donor”. The results actually made me realize just how severely I misunderstood the entire idea of bone marrow and its donation/transplantation.

I don’t know why but, for some reason, I assumed that donating bone marrow involved major surgery on your spinal cord and was such a risky procedure that would put the donor at severe risk.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out, it’s a basic day procedure that causes only minor-to-mild discomfort for only a few days, all the while your body naturally replenishes the marrow. Not really as big of a deal as the misconception I (and probably several others) had. It’s barely more than giving blood.

All this to say, last night I signed up to OneMatch.ca (list of international donor registries), and am currently awaiting follow-up to receive a swab kit to see my match potential, as a donor

I’m not sure why South Asians are so severely underrepresented in the donor pool, but if most are anything like me, a big portion of it is likely due to complete ignorance/obliviousness to it. I honestly had no idea it was this straight-forward, and truthfully, it wasn’t really something that was even on my radar. I think most people get a little scared and assumptive the second we think about anything health-related. It’s fascinating how just a few minutes of research can debunk misconceptions we didn’t even realize we had.

We get so caught up in the distractions of our everyday lives, we often fail to pay close enough attention to the things that can make the biggest difference. Truly… the biggest difference.

Had I not taken the 2 extra minutes to just read his post in full, and subsequently turn to Google & Wikipedia to learn a little bit about bone marrow donation, I wouldn’t have signed up to join the potential donors list. And if it turns out that I am a match, then just imagine the difference it can make to someone’s life, and the lives of their family & friends, for me to only slightly inconvenience myself for such a short amount of time.

Take the few minutes you would normally spend tweeting about Beyonce’s baby or Jersey Shore, to sign up to receive a swab kit to test your potential as a donor. It could save someone’s life. YOU can save someone’s life… you hero, you.

Amit’s original post:

superamit:

Two weeks ago I got a call from my doctor, who I’d gone to see the day before because I’d been feeling worn out and was losing weight, and wasn’t sure why.

He was brief: “Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia. You need to enter treatment right away.”

I was terrified. I packed a backpack full of clothes, went to the hospital as he’d instructed, and had transfusions through the night to allow me to take a flight home at 7am the next day. I Googled acute leukemia as I lay in my hospital bed, learning that if it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks.

—

I have a couple more months of chemo to go, then the next step is a bone marrow transplant. As Jay and Tony describe below, minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool, and I need help.

A few ways to help:

If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.

If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event my friends are putting on.

If you know any South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka), please point ‘em to the links above.

*UPDATE 1* Organize a donor drive near you (the most helpful thing you could possibly do!) email 100kcheeks@gmail.com. They’ll send you kits, flyers, tell you what to say, and make the whole process easy cheesy.

*UPDATE 2* Want to get a free test, but not in the US. Here’s a list of international donor registries that are globally searchable.

jayparkinsonmd:

My friend Amit Gupta founded my favorite photography site Photojojo. A few weeks ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Amit is one of the nicest, most genuine, most creative people you could ever meet. Prior to founding the awesome Photojojo, he also co-founded Jelly in 2006 in NYC, a coworking community, that’s now spread to 60 cities across the world and helped spark the coworking revolution. It looks like Amit will need a bone marrow transplant quite soon. We can help him with that.

tony b:

Unlike blood transfusions, finding a genetic match for bone marrow that his body will accept is no easy task. The national bone marrow registry has 9.5 million records on file, yet the chances of someone from South Asian descent of finding a match are only 1 in 20,000.

This is where we come in. We’re going to destroy those odds.

How? By finding and registering as many people of South Asian descent as we possibly can.

Tests are easy– a simple swab of the cheek. If you’re a match, the donation involves an outpatient procedure. It’s not fun, but it’s not dangerous either. And doing it could save a life.

We are encouraging anyone of South Asian descent to take a test to see if you’re a match.

You can get a free test by mail, or, if you’re in New York, you can join us Friday, October 14th for a special party to rally support.

We’ll have test kits on hand at the party, as well as music, booze, and maybe even a photo booth. It will, for the first time, combine a House 2.0-style party with a New Work City-style party, and if you’ve ever been to either, you know they are always something special.

Please spread the word and please do everything you can to help Amit beat leukemia. He’s a superstar.

Much thanks to Tony and pals for organizing this event, and EVERYONE who’s been tweeting and reblogging.

Please help get the word out any way you can. My life quite literally depends on it.