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Many of you may know (or some may not) that Amit Gupta (son of Suman and Dr. Arvind Gupta), an entrepreneur, needs a bone marrow donor from South Asian Community (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka). The age group for donors should be 18 – 60 years. Amit is currently undergoing chemo, but it is essential to find him a bone marrow match. The process of testing for a match is a simple swab test. Amit took to Tumblr and social media to spread awareness of his need for a bone marrow donor. On Twittter, #ISwabbedForAmit, is the hash tag associated with this search.
When Amit’s doctor called him, he was brief, “Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia. You need to enter treatment right away.” Share Amit, “I was terrified. I packed a backpack full of clothes, went to the hospital as he’d instructed, and had transfusions through the night to allow me to take a flight home at 7am the next day. I Googled acute leukemia as I lay in my hospital bed, learning that if it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks.”
This Friday, there will be a bone marrow drive in NYC. We at UrbanAsian urge those of you in the area to please go to the drive in case you are a match. There are not many South Asian bone marrow donors, so it is especially important to go to the event. The test to find if you are a match is noninvasive – it’s just a simple swab test. If you are found to be a match, you can still refuse to give your bone marrow, but we hope you will donate if you are a match.
Details for the NY Bone Marrow Drive:
412 Broadway, Floor 2
New York, 10013-3594
Friday, October 14, 2011 at 9:30 PM (ET)
PLEASE R.S.V.P AT http://brownbones.eventbrite.com/
Details for the CT Bone Marrow Drive:
Saturday Oct 15, 2011
10:00 am to 1:00pm
Hindu Cultural Center
96 Chapel St , Stratford, CT 06614
Dr. Vijay Chhabra, Clinical Instructor, Yale University School of Medicine, Oncology Hematology Care of CT will be there to answer any questions that you may have along with getting the sample to send for testing.
