Almost two years ago, I joined a family of a little boy named Jeremy Kong, a two year old boy at the time, in our desperate quest to find him a bone marrow donor. Even though Jeremy found a match, due to complications, he has left us in September 2013. I did not know Jeremys family before I joined them on the drives to get more people to register to be bone marrow donors. But I could not turn away his cheerful smile, his bright sparkling eyes. He was just a baby, he should have been able to become something great in life. In the end, I have to accept that the little angel names Jeremy is watching us from afar, encouraging us to get the Asian community to become more informed and understanding toward bone marrow donation. There are a lot of myths surrounding becoming a donor and donating bone marrow and I will be happy to explain and clarify them to you. Whatever the myths are, I can assure you this: DONATING BONE MARROW DOES NOT KILL YOU! In fact, you are saving a life, a very precious life! We all have family and our loved ones, so I am sure we all can feel the pain and empathize with the families who have members, especially young children, dying from different forms of leukemia. Becoming a donor only requires a few swaps inside your cheeks, it does not hurt! If you are a match, I can tell you the physical pain you may have to endure is nothing compare to the chemotherapy sessions and other cancer treatments the patients have to go through. In sum, we dont have to really do anything, but in returns, we can extend the gift of life to another one. I cant see anything more rewarding than such an experience. Now, I am again pleading with my friends here and your friends and family to come register (especially if you are of Asian descents because we dont have enough donors registered for the database) at these various bone marrow drives to save Baylor. I really dont want to see another family losing another child to something that if we are all committed, we may be able to stop it from happening! Thank you, friends who spend the time to read this, and I hope you have already joined me in this project or will be soon. If you have already registered, get your friends and family to register or come volunteer!
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 19:25:50 +0000