Padmaja Brahme is an artist from Pune, Maharashtra who is suffering from Hodgkin's Lymphoma since 2001. She is in her mid-thirties and is a mother of two sons; one is 7 and the other is 3.
Padmaja is in urgent need of a matched blood stem cell/marrow transplant to be cured. Research and medicines have improved the technology of transplants, but the success depends on finding a tissue matched donor and finding it fast before the patient is battered by continous chemotherapy. You can help her return to a normal life by registering as a volunteer donor.
The only chance for a cure is finding an exactly matching bone marrow (peripheral blood stem cells). The chances of an exact match are (1/20,000) and (1/100,000). Marrow match is most likely found in one's own racial and ethnic group.
Every healthy individual between the ages of 18 and 60 years. You need to register only once in your lifetime. Do not register if you have severe medical conditions(asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart attack etc.)
The test to see if you are a match takes only a few drops of blood at no cost to you.
SAMAR (South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters) is an official group of the National Marrow Donor program dedicated to the cause of recruiting potential life savers for the national registry. For more information, visit http://www.samarinfo.org or call toll-free 1-866-592 5854.
The donation process for Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) transplant is detailed on the NMDP website http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/steps_of_donation.html
South Asians and other minorities are underrepresented in the world registries and the only way to cure these patients is to enroll large number of minorities in the registry. As a caring community of Indians/Americans, let us pledge and be commited to cure the 3000 patients searching the national registry for a life-saving matched donor.
Forward this message to your family and friends in these communities: South Asian(from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, Guyana, Sri Lanka), African American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska. Organize a registry drive in your community, work place or your city.
Please answer the desperate plea of a young mother. Give her and many others like her a chance to live. Only God knows who will need a matching bone marrow next!