Guest guest Posted September 20, 1999 Report Share Posted September 20, 1999 Sorry, missed one " h " in the address and hence it came back. Reforwarding the original message. Thanks. Gopal >Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:59:58 -0400 ><vishwamadhvasanga > >Gopal Potti <gpotti >Fwd: Request/Bone Marrow Drives >Cc: >Bcc: >X-Attachments: > > >Namaskara, > >At the outset let me apologize for forwarding the earlier " Spider " message >erroneously, which, of course, was a joke. I was in the process of >forwarding that message to my Chief and in stead of placing his email >address, I typed >the VMS address by mistake since my mind was set in advance on VMS with the >message attached below. After clicking the " send " button, T went out to attend >meetings. When I came back to check my emails before going home, I was >embarrassed to see that, in fact, I had sent that message to VMS members. > >I work at the National Institutes of Health in developing new investigational >drug products for clinical studies and have to read JAMA and other medical >journals. I thank Mr.S.Rao for his timely response to my email confirming it >to be a joke. > >Now let me bring to your attention to the following message: > > > AN APPEAL FOR BONE MARROW DONORS > >>It is just over a year since Mithun was diagnosed with chronic myeloid >>leukemia (CML). We were hoping to find an antigen matched bone marrow >>donor within a year. Since we haven’t found a match as yet, his doctors >>decided to start him on a combination chemotherapy of interferon alpha >>and low dose ara-c, given subcutaneously everyday. About 50% of the >>patients show cytogenic remission following a year of interferon >>therapy. Initially Mithun tolerated this therapy pretty well and his >>white blood cell counts came down substantially. But his platelet counts >>also started coming down and went below a dangerous level (50,000) after >>3 months of this therapy. Interferon therapy was immediately stopped in >>late July. Hydroxyurea (oral capsules) was started to control the >>increase in WBC and to allow the platelets to increase to normal levels. >>The doctors felt that interferon therapy may not be suitable for him. > >>Now Mithun’s need for a bone marrow transplant has substantially >>increased. We are again urging all those who have not yet registered >>with the National Marrow Donor Registry (NMDP), to do so. You may be >>able to save Mithun’s or someone’s LIFE for a minor inconvenience, if >>and when your antigens match those of a leukemic child. Finding a match >>is like a lottery and we believe that by God’s grace and prayers from >>all of you well-wishers, Mithun will find a perfect match soon. YOU may >>be that one in a million match Mithun is waiting for. If you have >>questions about bone marrow transplant and how it affects the donor and >>the patient, feel free to call or e-mail us any time. We are looking for >>some volunteers in each community to come forward and conduct bone >>marrow drives during the coming festival season (Navarathri and Diwali). > >>Conducting a drive needs some advance (about a month) preparation. You >>can call us for some guidance and help. During the last year, many of >>you have generously given your time and conducted the drives at many >>locations, for which we are eternally grateful. May God bless you all. >> >>Remember that even if one child’s life is saved because of your >>unselfish efforts, you will feel immensely rewarded beyond what you can >>imagine. Please continue to pray for Mithun’s healing and well being. We >>had a very successful prayer chain on August 15 and many of you (on >>prior notice by e-mail and telephone) prayed for Mithun for 5-10 minutes >>exactly at the same time (12 noon EST and 9:30 p.m. Indian standard >>time). We will continue to do that every few months for Mithun and other >>sick children. Please let us know your e-mail address if you want to be >>notified of future prayer chains. >> >>Burde Laxminarayan/ Urmila Kamath e-mail: bkamath >>Phone: 504-466-9474 Fax: >>504-467-8165 >>INFO at http://www.marrow.org >>frequently asked questions at >>http://www.marrow-donor.org/DONOR/q_a.html >>Phone # 800-MARROW2 >>http://www.marrow-donor.org/story_commun.htm >> http://www.marrow-donor.org/STORIES/lata.html >> http://www.marrow-donor.org/chance.html >> http://mall6.register.com/hla/v1.htm >>http://mall6.register.com/hla/story1.htm >>http://www.ltsc.org/a3m/DonorC.html >> > >Burde is from Udupi and was my roommate during our Ph.D program at SUNY at >Buffalo thirty years back. Conducting bone marrow drive is simple. Just call >the 800-MARROW2 and ask for your local bone marrow center. They will come >to your gathering place and take a few ml of blood as your doctor takes when >you go for a physical. That is all. Your blood type will be registered in >the National Bone Marrow Registry which becomes availble to the entire >population. If preliminary match is there, they will call you to give >additional blood for detailed mapping. If matched perfectly, you will have >to go to a hospital for one or two day stay during which time doctors will >take bone marrow cells a certain volume based on recipient's weight. These >cells will grow back in donors within two to three weeks. Net result is >some inconvenience or in rare cases some back pain for two to three weeks. >A simple Tylenol therapy should take of that problem and in most of the cases, >you have saved a life. Without getting any reward, you are saving >someone's life >and this unselfish act will please Sri Madhavacharya and our God SriKrishna. > >I had conducted two drives one in Washington area and another in salisbury, MD >and recruited 125 people. There are about 20-25 children of Indian origin >with leukemia in this country and are waiting to get a matching donor. The >National bone marrow registry has about three million people or so registered >as donors. Unfortunately, the number of Indians in the registry is too small >to match the waiting 25 children. So the Department of Navy had given a grant >to Red Cross so that Asians/Hispanics can give blood for bone marrow matching >without any cost. > >Mithun is a 12 old boy, very intelligent and had represented his State in the >National Spelling Bee Contest last year in Washington, DC and I kindly >request you all to give seriuos consideration to become a member of bone >marrow registry. I try to follow everyday the most important philosophy, I >believe, of Sri Madhvacharya is that our existance in this world should >benefit >others WITHOUT expecting and accepting any reward for one's action. > >We are so desperate to save him that I am forwarding this to you all >whether it is proper or not to send to this organization. I am in the >process >of arranging another drive during Diwali Meela time in Virginia. It is better >that we increase the number of bone marrow donors of Indian origin in the >National Registry as the population of Indians increases in this country. >Tommarow, we do not know which family will find out that their child has >leukemia or other blood diseases. > >Right now,500 special filter papers were taken to Udupi and Mangalore area >to get blood from all his relatives and these blood stained filter papers >will be analysed by recombinant DNA technology to see a match with that of >Mithun. Unfortunately, these tests are rather expensive and insurance will >not cover these cost. As it is Burde family is at pain because of his son's >situation, we do not want him to suffer financially further. So my bother >Ram Potti and myself have promised him that we will pay the entire cost of >these analysis and more. The important thing is to save children, God's >creations and these type of actions will please our Guru and God. > >I once again kindly request you to conduct bone marrow drives in your >area and be a member of bone marrow registry. This way a lot of lives of >leukemia patients of Indian origin living all over the world including in >India(National Registries interconnected) as well as other patients of non- >Indian origin(low %) can be saved. May " GOD " bless all of us. > >Gopal > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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