The Japanese American Citizens League of the Monterey Peninsula will be hosting a Swabbing/Bone Marrow Registration Event on Saturday, March 4th from 12:00–4:00pm. Help us support 13 year-old, Maxine, who was recently diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia and is in need of a stem cell transplant.
The Monterey JACL is inviting the community to the Swabbing/Bone Marrow Registration event in hopes of bringing attention to the disparity on the National Be The Match Registry. Currently, not all patients have an equal opportunity of finding their life-saving match. With help from of our community, the JACL would like to change those odds and give ALL patients, regardless of their background, the same chances of finding their life-saving match. We need people of all races to register, but especially minorities and those of mixed race, as those patients are especially difficult to match. Patients are most likely to match with donors who share the same ethnicity. Currently, the odds of finding a match based on ethnic background: Black or African American: 29%, Asian or Pacific Islander: 47%, Hispanic or Latino: 48%, Native American: 60%, White: 79%.
Must be between 18–40 years old to register. Even if you are out of the “age range”, please come to the event to meet the Monterey Peninsula JACL Board Members and to visit our Heritage Museum, which profiles the Japanese Americans of the Monterey Peninsula.
The Swabbing/Bone Marrow Registration Drive will be held at Japanese American Citizen League Hall at 424 Adams Street, Monterey, CA 93940.
For more information, contact Kristen Bates, Be The Match: (510)552-8372, kbates@nmdp.org
Ellie Hattori, Monterey JACL, elliehattori@icloud.com
About Be The Match®
Be The Match® is a global leader working every day to save lives through cellular therapy. For people with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia and lymphoma—or other blood disorders like sickle cell, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with a matching donor for a life-saving blood stem cell transplant. The Be The Match Registry® is the most diverse registry in the world and includes both adult donors willing to donate to a stranger in need and stored cord blood units. In addition, Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant. Be The Match is also a global leader in research through the CIBMTR®(Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®)—a collaboration with Medical College of Wisconsin, investing in and managing research studies that improve patient outcomes and advance the future of care. Visit Be The Match to learn more.
