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You Too Can Save A Life
Your help is urgently needed!
There are currently several Jewish patients diagnosed with leukaemia and aplastic anaemia who are desperate for a bone marrow transplant. Only one in three of these patients are lucky enough to have a relative whose tissue matches theirs and therefore finding an unrelated donor is their only chance of survival.
Since tissue typing is ethnically and regionally specific, the likelihood of these patients finding a match is highest within the Jewish population. Greek and Chinese patients likewise seek matching bone marrow in their own respective communities in order to increase the probability of finding a matched donor. To date, however, there are very few Jews listed with the Red Cross Bone Marrow Register in Australia. Hence this campaign to encourage more people in the community to register as potential donors.
The search is now urgent, especially for one of the leukaemia patients in Melbourne. Yehuda Kaplan is a 35 year old man with a 5 year old daughter. Yehuda's father is a Polish Jew and his mother is from Tunisia and none of his relatives or friends here or in Israel were found to be compatible, that is, so far... but... it could be you!
Bone Marrow Transplants Save Lives
You too can help by:
Registering as a potential donor on the Australian Bone Marrow Registry (ABMDR). Propagating information and handing it out to relatives and friends. Making a tax deductible donation to Keren Hayeled to cover costs of further searches by patients who are in need of a transplant, for unrelated donors registered on overseas bone marrow registers. Keren Hayeled is a volunteer organisation assisting those in need who are facing life threatening illnesses. Kindly send tax deductible donations to: Keren Hayeled Inc, PO Box 338, St Kilda, VIC, 3182 Responding to this plea! Further suggestions and volunteers to make this campaign a success are most welcome.
Please note:
Donors should be between 18 and 50 years old and in good health. A small sample of venous blood is collected for tissue typing. Should a match be found, a second sample is tested for a mixed lymphocyte culture test. Once compatibility is established, a donor may agree to have a very small amount of bone marrow removed, usually from the pelvic bone, by needle punctures, under general anaesthetic under strict hospital supervision. To date, more than 30,000 bone marrow transplants have been performed. NO COMPLICATIONS, OTHER THAN LOCAL PAIN, OR ANY LONG TERM ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS TO THE DONORS HAVE EVER BEEN REPORTED. Bone marrow, like blood, regenerates in a very short time. This good deed actually saves lives.
Screening tests are held every Sunday between 9 and 11 am at Wolper Jewish Hospital. Contact us for an appointment. Alternate arrangements to suit you are also possible.
The Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry will join you at any of the Red Cross Blood Bank Centres. Call 9229 4318 for more details.
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