Dear Friends,
ZAMC has organized a Bone Marrow Donor registration drive on Sunday, February 18th at the Dar-e-Meher from 10am onward, running until we run out of participants.
Blood cancer is a deadly form of cancer that impacts the production and function of blood cells and is so prevalent that it takes a life every ten minutes. The only reliable cure is a bone marrow transplant, and yet finding a match often proves to be long and difficult. The likelihood of finding a match within a community as small as ours is exponentially higher. But as members of the Zoroastrian community with very strong genetic ties, we have a unique opportunity to change that equation.
ZAMC has received requests from families and institutions serving Zoroastrians, young and old, for bone marrow donors who might be willing to assist in this cause. An example is Sharmin, a young Zoroastrian mother and wife, living in Melbourne, who has been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia (CLL) and is desperately awaiting a match after none was found among her closest relatives. She is but one example from many.
If you have already registered through Be the Match foundation, but aren’t sure about whether you followed up on a confirmation request, please do consider registering again as records are often dispersed and scrubbed for currentness. Registering here can be especially helpful for our Zoroastrian population.
Participating in the drive is a quick and easy process:
- You need to be between the ages of 18 to 44 years old
- You will need to fill a consent form that will take about 5-10 mins
- You will provide a cheek swab that will take less than 1 minute
Once collected, your sample will processed and added into the registry. Should you happen to be a match for someone in the future, you will be contacted directly on next steps. At that point you will have the opportunity to reevaluate your decision, but we encourage you to be certain about your willingness to donate when you register.
The entire registration process takes less than 10 minutes of your life, but finding a match may save a lifetime for someone else.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Persis or Tushad Driver at tushad@zamc.org. All samples will be collected by volunteers from our own community and we will be on site the entire time to answer further questions.
In the spirit of Huvarshta, we hope we can all come together as a community to do our bit in this cause.
We look forward to seeing you on February 18 after 10am.
Hamazor, Hama Asho-bed.
May we be united in strength and righteousness.
