Help Find a Match for Noor!
Donation protected
About Noor:
My younger brother used to be one of the most energetic and loving kids around. He would cause so much trouble but he was still everyone's favourite. There is just something about him that draws you towards him. Sadly, all of that changed about 5 years ago when he was diagnosed with blood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia specifically. He has been facing an uphill battle ever since then and we just hope he doesn't loose. He was able to go into remission back in 2013 however, he just recently relapsed in December 2014.
His cancer is really agressive, and because of that chemotherapy treatment alone just won't cut it. We have been trying to find him a bone marrow match for the past 5 years especially since my parents and I did not match him, but so far there has been no luck. The problem is that the current bone marrow registry does not have alot of South Asian donors. However, the highest chance of him finding a match is from the South Asian community. We are currently trying to chance this, but its not so easy to do.
Why We Need HELP!
Once we learned all of this, we started to look into how we could help find him a match. There is OneMatch (Canada), BeTheMatch (US), and many other worldwide registries that allow people to become donors for free, but South Asians only make up about 5% of the worldwide database. We have set up events through these organizations, however the response we are currently getting is not high enough to raise Noor's chances of finding a match. Countries like Canada and the US do have high South Asian populations, but they are not high enough to get a significant number of people registered. Noor has a highest chance of finding a match in Males who are ages 17-35, which make the chances even slimmer.
Unfortunetly, there is no formal bone marrow registry in India which is upsetting since this is where Noor has the highest chance of finding a match. The residents there are able to provide cheek samples to be put into the registry, but it costs them about 70$ US in order to do so. This is what poses the problem, since many people are unwilling to pay for this mainly because they can not afford it.
We have gotten in contact with a small organization in India who registers donors for 70$ US. We have asked them to set up stem cell/bone marrow registry events for FREE on our behalf. The reason why Indian residents have to pay to become donors is because it costs the organization about 70$ US to get the cheek swabs tested and put into the worldwide registry. They don't have the funding to be able to do this for free, so they have to charge for it.
We didn't want money to be the reason that Noor couldn't find a match, which is why we offered to pay for those who want to become a donor but can't afford to do so. So far we have registered over 1000 people, however it's getting really expensive for us to be able to afford all of this which is why we need YOUR HELP!
These people who are registering are not just doing it for Noor, they are doing it for ANYONE who needs a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. If we are unable to register more people, that could mean that my brother or someone else could miss out on their chance to live a long and healthy life.
To keep track of our events, please check out our facebook page: www.facebook.com/matchfornoor
THANK YOU!!
My younger brother used to be one of the most energetic and loving kids around. He would cause so much trouble but he was still everyone's favourite. There is just something about him that draws you towards him. Sadly, all of that changed about 5 years ago when he was diagnosed with blood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia specifically. He has been facing an uphill battle ever since then and we just hope he doesn't loose. He was able to go into remission back in 2013 however, he just recently relapsed in December 2014.
His cancer is really agressive, and because of that chemotherapy treatment alone just won't cut it. We have been trying to find him a bone marrow match for the past 5 years especially since my parents and I did not match him, but so far there has been no luck. The problem is that the current bone marrow registry does not have alot of South Asian donors. However, the highest chance of him finding a match is from the South Asian community. We are currently trying to chance this, but its not so easy to do.
Why We Need HELP!
Once we learned all of this, we started to look into how we could help find him a match. There is OneMatch (Canada), BeTheMatch (US), and many other worldwide registries that allow people to become donors for free, but South Asians only make up about 5% of the worldwide database. We have set up events through these organizations, however the response we are currently getting is not high enough to raise Noor's chances of finding a match. Countries like Canada and the US do have high South Asian populations, but they are not high enough to get a significant number of people registered. Noor has a highest chance of finding a match in Males who are ages 17-35, which make the chances even slimmer.
Unfortunetly, there is no formal bone marrow registry in India which is upsetting since this is where Noor has the highest chance of finding a match. The residents there are able to provide cheek samples to be put into the registry, but it costs them about 70$ US in order to do so. This is what poses the problem, since many people are unwilling to pay for this mainly because they can not afford it.
We have gotten in contact with a small organization in India who registers donors for 70$ US. We have asked them to set up stem cell/bone marrow registry events for FREE on our behalf. The reason why Indian residents have to pay to become donors is because it costs the organization about 70$ US to get the cheek swabs tested and put into the worldwide registry. They don't have the funding to be able to do this for free, so they have to charge for it.
We didn't want money to be the reason that Noor couldn't find a match, which is why we offered to pay for those who want to become a donor but can't afford to do so. So far we have registered over 1000 people, however it's getting really expensive for us to be able to afford all of this which is why we need YOUR HELP!
These people who are registering are not just doing it for Noor, they are doing it for ANYONE who needs a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. If we are unable to register more people, that could mean that my brother or someone else could miss out on their chance to live a long and healthy life.
To keep track of our events, please check out our facebook page: www.facebook.com/matchfornoor
THANK YOU!!
Organizer
Simrat Deol
Organizer
Brampton, ON
