Bone Marrow Program Clogged With Red Tape
I'm sick. I need a donor. You may be one!
Ernie and Sandra Lister, parents of David Lister (full blood Navajo, age 16) need YOUR help. David is very ill with leukemia (ALL) and must find a bone marrow donor to help him get better and get well.
Each year, thousands of American Indians are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia for which a bone marrow transplant can be a cure. A transplant requires matching tissue types between patient and donor. The best chance of finding a match is with someone of the same race or ethnicity. The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) works through communities to raise awareness of the need for volunteer donors from the American Indian communities.
Keep the circle strong by becoming a volunteer marrow/stem cell donor on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. As an American Indian, you can make a difference in the lives of other Native people by joining the NMDP Registry. The more people who register, the more likely the patient will find a matched donor.
Web sites: www.marrow.org
The above is from an Internet site. I logged onto the National Marrow Donor Program site and received the following information:
Because tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to find a match within their own racial or ethnic group. People of color represent only about one quarter of the total volunteer donors on the National Marrow Donor Program – NMDP
There is a special need for volunteer donors from the Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska native communities. The first step in becoming a potential marrow or peripheral blood stem cell donor is to contact your local National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) donor or recruitment group.
I got on site after site looking for an e-mail or phone number to ask how I could find the NMDP group. After 45 minutes of logging on and off and trying to call phone numbers that don’t exist any more or make any sense, I finally heard a voice ask, “How may I help you?”
Startled me. “Are you a human being?”
After he assured me he was, I told him I was trying to get information to pass on to the readers of my column for an easy way to get information on how to become a potential bone marrow or peripheral blood cell donor.
He gave me a phone number – 602 – 239-4526.
I told him that was in Phoenix.
“That is where the Bone Marrow Program is based”
I sarcastically asked , “What government agency runs the Program?”.
.
He said he didn’t know. I believe him.
I told him that if he wanted to make this important program a really successful program “GET A 1 - 800 NUMBER TO CALL FOR BASIC DONOR INFORMATION”.
He grunted! I hung up knowing I had just made another life-long friend.
This is a most important life-saving project, but to enroll as a bone marrow donor, one is put through a bureaucratic maze of red tape.
I doubt if any one from the Bone Marrow Project will see this but just in case- Get a 1-800 number and place it with your logo at the top of the page where everyone can quickly relate to it. A Zip Code can immediately identify the locale of the caller and it should be simple to match the caller with his/her nearest NMPD group. bobbie.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.
Ernie and Sandra Lister, parents of David Lister (full blood Navajo, age 16) need YOUR help. David is very ill with leukemia (ALL) and must find a bone marrow donor to help him get better and get well.
Each year, thousands of American Indians are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia for which a bone marrow transplant can be a cure. A transplant requires matching tissue types between patient and donor. The best chance of finding a match is with someone of the same race or ethnicity. The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) works through communities to raise awareness of the need for volunteer donors from the American Indian communities.
Keep the circle strong by becoming a volunteer marrow/stem cell donor on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. As an American Indian, you can make a difference in the lives of other Native people by joining the NMDP Registry. The more people who register, the more likely the patient will find a matched donor.
Web sites: www.marrow.org
The above is from an Internet site. I logged onto the National Marrow Donor Program site and received the following information:
Because tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to find a match within their own racial or ethnic group. People of color represent only about one quarter of the total volunteer donors on the National Marrow Donor Program – NMDP
There is a special need for volunteer donors from the Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska native communities. The first step in becoming a potential marrow or peripheral blood stem cell donor is to contact your local National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) donor or recruitment group.
I got on site after site looking for an e-mail or phone number to ask how I could find the NMDP group. After 45 minutes of logging on and off and trying to call phone numbers that don’t exist any more or make any sense, I finally heard a voice ask, “How may I help you?”
Startled me. “Are you a human being?”
After he assured me he was, I told him I was trying to get information to pass on to the readers of my column for an easy way to get information on how to become a potential bone marrow or peripheral blood cell donor.
He gave me a phone number – 602 – 239-4526.
I told him that was in Phoenix.
“That is where the Bone Marrow Program is based”
I sarcastically asked , “What government agency runs the Program?”.
.
He said he didn’t know. I believe him.
I told him that if he wanted to make this important program a really successful program “GET A 1 - 800 NUMBER TO CALL FOR BASIC DONOR INFORMATION”.
He grunted! I hung up knowing I had just made another life-long friend.
This is a most important life-saving project, but to enroll as a bone marrow donor, one is put through a bureaucratic maze of red tape.
I doubt if any one from the Bone Marrow Project will see this but just in case- Get a 1-800 number and place it with your logo at the top of the page where everyone can quickly relate to it. A Zip Code can immediately identify the locale of the caller and it should be simple to match the caller with his/her nearest NMPD group. bobbie.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.
posted by Bobbie Hart O'Neill @ 12:30 PM
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