Friday, June 6, 2008

Great news! Montreal man is matched for bone marrow

On May 27, I wrote about the importance of bone marrow registry and donation (Bone marrow transplants - would you be a donor?).

In the post, I mentioned that a Montreal writer, Emru Townsend, was in a holding pattern while waiting for a match to help him recover from leukemia. Emru's wait was made more difficult because of his ethnic background as the son of African-Caribbean parents. African-Americans and Canadians are very under-represented in the bone marrow registry.

The good news is that Emru has found a match: Montreal man finds ethnic bone marrow match.
We do still have to wait and see if the procedure is completed, because there will be some nail biting, I'm sure, until it's all done. The donor has the right to back out at any time for any reason. That's what happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. Let's hope that doesn't happen in this case.

Now for the reality check: there are so many people like Emru waiting for a bone marrow match and some may not ever get the chance that it looks like Emru is getting. Please consider registering for and donating bone marrow.



Today at Help My Hurt:

Heroes actor Jack Coleman spreads the word about women and pain

Working on getting a good night’s sleep

Could your daily drink reduce arthritis risk?

Following Kristin Armstrong’s ride to the Olympics

Today at Womb Within

Video: Epidural

Your baby is growing - the final weeks

Keeping clean and green during pregnancy (and beyond) - a review and a contest

News for Today:

Sleeping in bed with parents dangerous for baby, report warns

High-protein, high-dairy diet prevents bone loss: study

Lack of vitamin D may cause juvenile diabetes

Short, high-intensity exercise just as good for heart

1 in 5 adolescents are not sufficiently protected against meningitis C

High cholesterol may up Parkinson's disease risk

We're all to blame for staying mum on mental illness


1 comment:

Clare2e said...

That's great news! Strangely, I was just thinking the other day about bone marrow donation, realizing I hadn't looked into my eligibility yet though I'd meant to. Thanks for the helpful reminder. Until we can grow more of our own in the lab, we'll just have to try to share : )