The following is an email from my Uncle Kent:
My son Sean B. Stewart will be 30 years old July 19, 2008. In May of this year Sean was diagnosed with "Aplastic Anemia".
Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The term 'aplastic' means the marrow suffers from an aplasia that renders it unable to function properly. Anemia is the condition of having reduced hemoglobin or red cell concentration in the blood. Typically, anemia refers to low red blood cell counts, but aplastic anemia patients have lower counts of all three blood cell types: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
To make it simple, Sean will need a "bone marrow transplant". Sean’s immediate family has been tested and we are not matches. We are now searching the bone marrow banks for the perfect match.
Each year, more than 140,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Leukemia is the most common disease children in the U.S. die of. For many patients, marrow transplants are the only hope for a second chance at life.
Less than 30% of patients in need of a transplant can find a match within their family, the other 70%+ depend on YOU.
Only 2 out of every 10 patients will receive the transplant that could save their lives.
Every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Every ten minutes, blood cancer takes a life.
This is why we need YOU!
Ten minutes of your time, might help save a life.
We are planning a "bone marrow donor drive" in Springfield, MO. We are working with a non-profit organization called DKMS Americas & this is a link to their website http://www.dkmsamericas.org/
It costs $65.00 to register one donor on the DKMS bone marrow bank. We would like to register as many as we possibly can & I would hate not to be able register someone that did not have the funds. We are seeking sponsors to help those that would like to be donors but without the funds to do so.
In a recent drive in New England 14,000 people showed up to become marrow donors
Think about it!
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