Opinions

Wespeak:
Register for Marrow Drive

Each year, over 30,000 new patients are diagnosed with leukemia, aplasticanemia, and other life threatening blood diseases. Many of us in the Wesleyancommunity have lost family, loved ones, and classmates to these diseases.In many cases, the only chance for survival is a marrow transplant. However,as many as 70 percent of those requiring marrow transplantation cannot find a match within their own family, and thisdisproportionately effects the Black, Latino, American Indian, and Asiancommunities. Unlike blood, bone marrow matches are more genetically specific,and the need for donors from particular racial groups is crucial. Of the3.7 million people on the national marrow registry, only 30% are personsof color.

The current racial/ethnic distribution of the National Marrow DonationProgram (NMDP) Donors is:

Caucasian 69%

African American 10%

Latino 10%

Asian / Pacific Islander 7% 

South Asian .9%

Amer. Indian/Alaskan 2%

Multi-racial/Other 2%

In order to increase the diversity in the marrow registry, we are organizinga Registration Drive for the Wesleyan community during the Fall 2000. Wewill be making further outreach to include all Wesleyan students in this undertaking. To this end, we hope you will join us in forming the "MarrowRegistry Task Force" for Fall 2000. By distributing information and
organizing members in our respective student bodies, your participationwill aide in raising awareness of bone marrow registry, marrow donationand the conditions it may cure.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) affiliated organization SAMAR,based out of New York, will be covering the registry drive itself. Theywill provide us with information, as well as come to Wesleyan to conduct the testing. It takes only one-tablespoon(5 ml) of blood for the initial registry test. This will determine thedonors HLA (marrow) type and place
them on the NMDP registry. At a later point, donors may be called uponto anonymously donate their marrow to a patient in need, and the processis relatively painless and not unlike a regular blood transfusion (with more sophisticated donation methodsbeing developed every year).

The Administration has offered to lend its assistance to this campaign,but it is the student organizers and donors that will make it a reality.The task at hand is to set a date for the Fall 2000 drive, giving us enough time to raise awareness. To maximize ouraudience, we could coordinate the drive with other cultural or social events(music, art, dance, theatrical performance, food, etc.). We hope that by forming a unified, studenttask force, we can set a positive example for the Wesleyan community andthose outside.

Please feel free to contact either Bob Kao (mkao@wesleyan.edu) or MayuranTiruchelvam (mtiruchelvam@wesleyan.edu) for more information. On behalfof the Marrow Registry Task Force, we thank you for joining us in this endeavor.

Tiruchelvam is a member of the class of 2003