Guest guest Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 Praise Be unto our Swami His miracles are astounding! This is the latest up- date on Pia Awal, former Bal Vikas student who was stricken with Leukemia. Her transplant is scheduled on and around Swami's birthday! Please dear Sai family keep her in your prayers. We know that our beloved Baba is taking good care of her. Lots of Prema and Shanti ki VeenaRS Thu, 4 Nov 2004 2:33:26 PM Eastern Standard Time Fwd: Update on the search for Pia =?ISO8859-1?B?QXdhbJJz?= donor =?ISO8859-1?... jcavazos, Devakki3, Angelicpassage, ushatenali, prasan36, SAIRAAM, jnjscher, Christine (Maharaj,Christine), NisairamDear friends, Here is the incredible news about Pia. Her transplant is fixed for on or around November 23rd! If you have any email ids of others who need to be informed, pls. send them to me. Thanking you all for your hard work and prayers, let us continue our prayers and whatever efforts are possible for others waiting as well as for Pia and others post-transplant. Best wishes, Veena arti arti Update on the search for Pia =?ISO8859-1?B?QXdhbJJz?= donor =?ISO8859-1?B?bWF0Y2iF?= Thu, 4 Nov 2004 1:26:33 -0500 This message is very dear and true to both Pia and I. As we started this journey, we never would have imagined the outpour of everyone’s commitment in making a difference for this cause and us. As we carefully educate individuals who want to make a difference in saving someone’s life by being a potential donor match, we hope that these individuals will also be committed and available to donate stem cells/bone marrow when called upon. Well our dream has come true, Pia has a donor match. Not just any match, but an identical match…it sounds too good to be true, but we defeated the odds against us. You see our chance for a match was 1 in 20,000 to 1 in a 100,000. Let alone 1 in a million for an identical match. I would like to personally thank everyone of you for all your sacrifices you made over the last 14 weeks for our cause, let alone the sheer dedication commitment you’ve made to Pia and all the other patients that need HOPE to get them through to the next day. There was an individual who once told me early on that “Don’t hold your breath, as you will never find a match. You haven’t found one in two years, so why do you think you will find one now” said a certain NMDP representative. Well, no hard feelings, but my reply today is “ You should get to know my community better, see what we see, feel what we feel”. At matchpia.org, our strategy, was to launch a very effective campaign that can touch everyone emotionally, whether you are a male or a female, a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian in our South Asian community. It doesn’t matter anymore, as the barriers of religion, needed to be broken-down in order to save lives in our community. Now the only thing that matters, is the compassion for HUMANITY, and all our commitment to sustain it. As we enter this next phase of treatment, we are very cautious, as we have only addressed 2 of the 4 essential steps of this journey (1. Find a donor, 2. Convince that donor to donate, 3. Survive the transplant, and 4. Post transplant survival), we have so far accomplished steps 1 and 2. So, as we continue to thank you all, we would like to share two themes about our community that was so evident in our campaign. 1) Total “act of kindness by strangers”…so many of you didn’t even know us or had a clue on what to do, and how to do it, but were kind enough to give us a chance to provide you an understanding of how to do a donor drive…you took a chance on us…complete strangers whom you did not know. 2) The notion “If you educate Humanity, Humanity will rise to the occasion”…this campaign has demonstrated that once people were educated on what bone marrow is, and the process involved to save a LIFE…the choice is simple. So what’s next, well Pia and I thought long and hard what to do, and we decided to continue our efforts with Matchpia.org, in bringing awareness on the importance of getting members of our South Asian Community tested. You see, complete strangers took a chance on us, and we will continue to do the same for all the other 35 South Asian patients (I personally speak to about 8 of the families everyday). As you view our website, you may have noticed that we have recruited 12, 442 donors, in 188 donor drives, in 83 cites, in 14 weeks…. according to the NMDP, that will facilitate 6 South Asian transplants a year for the next 10 years. So we are so proud of each and everyone of you who joined our campaign, whether you volunteered for the day, spread the news to your friends and family or got tested at a drive…YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE for Pia and all the other 35 South Asian patients. On a final, but a very important note, I would like to encourage everyone of you to join our efforts in enabling our campaign to continue, so far we have personally spent over $83, 846 to support the marketing efforts and donor drives for this campaign. A few weeks ago, we have started the “South Asian Marrow Foundation Fund”, with the Marrow Foundation in Washington, DC. Now anyone can contribute to this fund and get a charitable tax deduction (tax exempt # 41-1704734), as our fund is housed under the Marrow Foundation tax-exempt status. The proceeds of the funds will enable us to conduct MORE donor drives in the South Asian Community, defray some of the additional tissue typing cost related to further testing for patients and some of the additional expenses in finding donor matches for South Asian patients. Please help us to raise the funds we need to effectively continue this campaign (if you have a matching program at your employer for charitable contributions, please let your HR manager you want the funds to be matched to the “South Asian Marrow Foundation”). Again, thank you so much for all your kind generosity, determination and sacrifices for the last 14 weeks. All your efforts allowed Pia to get her “one in a million chance”, at a miracle. Tim & Pia If you no longer wish to receive updates from Matchpia.org, please reply to this message indicating you want to opt out from our emails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2004 Report Share Posted November 5, 2004 Akkanna_Pragada Anantha_Vijaya <aavijaya Fri Nov 5, 2004 0:55am Re: [saibabanews] Fwd: Update on the search for Pia Awal's donor Sai Ram Pia Awal is a Bal Vikas student i.e. chosen girl of Swami. I am quite sure Swami is going to do the needful. Our Prayers are always there for Pi Awal. Swami will give out definately as his birthday gift a good health for Pia. ---------- AHFSL Fri Nov 5, 2004 9:00am Re: [saibabanews] Fwd: Update on the search for Pia Awal's donor Dear Moderator I am delighted to learn today that a perfect match has been found for Pia and a transplant is schdeuled for 23rd November 2004. What more one can ask from our Beloved Swami on his Birthday. Now that Pia will have been granted new lease of life, the mission should not stop here but using her as an example efforts should continue to raise awareness and encourage more donors to register. We in Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisation the UK have been doing just this for last 4 years and 10 months. I would request you to contact Sai Organisation in USA and adopt this as a National Service Project. After all what else one could offer to SAI other than a Lease of Life to someone unknown to oneself. Sai Ram Bharat Handa Co-ordinator Sri Sathya Sai Leukemia Awareness Programme (SSSLAP) UK Accountants & Tax Consultants (UK) 01895 257027/01895 237091 (Fax) ---------- singsong <bakulat Fri Nov 5, 2004 10:58am Re: [saibabanews] Fwd: Update on the search for Pia Awal's donor This is the most heart touching news! Thank you swami. Pia will be well with swami's grace. Love and light...of course she will be in our hearts and prayers on the day. Love, bakula saibabanews, Devakki3@c... wrote: > Praise Be unto our Swami His miracles are astounding! This is the latest up- date on Pia Awal, former Bal Vikas student who was stricken with Leukemia. Her transplant is scheduled on and around Swami's birthday! ........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2004 Report Share Posted November 5, 2004 I am overjoyed to hear about Pia's donor. By Swami's grace, her operation should go smoothly and she can begin her new life. God is Great but having faith in God is even greater. Sai Ram and God's grace to Pia and family and the donor. Sai's love to one and all Lisa Florida Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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