OT, But Worth It
This is from an Inside UCLA reader who happens to be a member of Sigma Nu, and part of their battle with Kappa Kappa Gamma to help find a bone-marrow donor for Krissy Kobata:
Over the past few years Sigma Nu and Kappa Kappa Gamma have teamed up to put on Bone Marrow drives on campus for a girl named Krissy Kobata. Her father was a Sigma Nu at UCLA and her mother, a Kappa at UCLA.
Krissy suffers from a rare blood disease called MDS that requires her to get a bone marrow transplant and unfortunately, in the 11-million person database, there's not a single match so she's resulted in putting on these drives, hoping that her match walks up and registers.
In recognition of their efforts for this cause, UCLA's Sigma Nu and Kappa Kappa Gamma have been entered into this year's Stay Classy awards and need people to vote so that they can win for their category.
The winner will receive $10,000 for their cause and a spot on NBC. This would give them the opportunity to promote awareness for the Bone Marrow Registry, inspire more people to register, and hopefully find Krissy a match and save her life.
All you have to vote is:
1) Go to the website below, click on the "UCLA Sigma Nu/Kappa Kappa Gamma" icon
2) Then select "Submit My Ballot"
That's it!
Please take a second and help this worthy cause!
Done! Thanks for sharing, Jon.
You're awesome Jon!
Thanks so much for the support!
--Curt
You're awesome Jon!
Thanks so much for your support!
--Curt
BTW, several years ago I gave a marrow donation. I would encourage everyone to look into it. It was a piece of cake...today often they can do it just by a process similar to a blood donation. Get on the list...you could save someone's life.
@Mike H What I've been told by Krissy is that the majority of the donations are exactly like a blood donation (as in 80%+). Evidently they can get your marrow from your blood cells.
And registering is a snap! Just a quick swab of the cheek with a q-tip. They are putting on another drive on the 17th of this month where you can stop by and do it for free!
Go register if you can.
Done. Thanks for posting Jon.
Because Krissy is half Japanese, finding a bone marrow match is even more difficult because tissue types are strongly tied to ethnicity. The number of Asians (and other minorities) in the national marrow registry isn't nearly as high as non-Asians, which is why it is critical for Krissy that as many Asians register themselves as possible. If you can't make it to a marrow drive, Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, which feeds into the National Marrow Donor Program, will send you a free home registration kit if you are an ethnic minority. As mentioned above, all it takes to get registered is to take a quick cheek swab and send it back in. And if you do get a match to someone in need, donating is relatively painless and simple.
http://www.asianmarrow.org/index.php/donor/order-an-individual-kit