Saving Emru Townsend
Emru Townsend is fighting for his life, and here's how we can help him. Emru's been diagnosed with leukemia and a condition known as monosomy 7. What this means is he needs a bone-marrow transplant in order to live. He and his family are actively seeking a donor match and their website is smart, with good explanations and great info about how to help Emru, and anyone else who may be in a similar situation. Tamu Townsend, Emru's sister, is one of the committee folks for Montreal's 2009 Worldcon, and Emru is a noted animation and technology writer, as well as the founding editor of Frames Per Second Magazine.
posted by John Picacio at 1:04 PM
5 Comments:
Both my husband and I have the "donate organs upon death" specified on our driver's licenses.
Good deal, Christine. I'm hoping Emru is able to find a donor match soon. Maybe if people keep spreading the word, it'll happen.
Yes, indeed. And it's especially hard for African Americans too I know.
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Just to clarify, a person must be a living donor for bone marrow. 5% or less is extracted from the body, and is replaced within a few weeks. The donor usually feels fine in a few days.
I am donating my organs when I die, but I did not realize I could be a bone marrow or kidney donor while alive.
People of African ancestry are underrepresented and while 1 in 500 people of mostly European ancestry should be on the registry, 1 in 10 of mostly African ancestry are required due to genetic variance, due to the history and realities of human migration.
While tens of thousands are required here in Canada and hundreds of thousands more are required in the US, there are only 1633 registrants of African ancestry on the registry in Canada. About 77 000 people short.
Luckily, the registries work worldwide, but there are shortages everywhere.
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