One of our fellow EMC family members is in dire need of your help. Nick Glasgow, a 28-year-old EMC employee in California who, in the span of just weeks, has been diagnosed with Leukemia and now is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.
Nick was a healthy 27-year-old when he came down with what was at first believed to be strep throat about nine to ten weeks ago. Eight weeks ago, he was informed that he has Leukaemia and was admitted to the hospital immediately for chemotherapy. Nick has endured two rounds of chemotherapy, and received blood, platelet, saline, and antibiotic infusions. These have all failed to put Nick into remission. Nick's white cell blood count is too low for another round of chemo, and has been sent home as antibiotics have been stopped and his immune system is compromised.
The outpouring of help and support has been amazing, but unfortunately a donor has not yet been found. And the race is at a critical stage.
Here are the essential facts you need to know to support Nick:
- Any person whose ethnic background is a mix of Asian and Caucasian, and is in good health with no history of cancer or major illness, and is between the ages of 18 and 60, is a potential donor for Nick. Expanding on the initial information, one does not need to be 75% Caucasian and 25% Asian -- any potential mix could work. While the most likely match would be from a person who is 75% Caucasian and 25% Japanese, it is absolutely possible that other combinations of Caucasian-Asian background in different proportions could work. The Asian background should be Sino-Asian, rather than Indo-Asian. Finding an ideal match with all of Nick's markers is very difficult, and we do not want to exclude any potential donors.
- Go to the "Be The Match" National Marrow Donor Program. Rather than ordering a test kit (time is too critical for that), read the facts about donating and then you can register yourself and enter your zip code here to find drives in your area in the next few days. If there is not a local drive in your area within the next few days, please call one of the labs listed and request a time to drop in for urgent testing. (These instructions apply to people in the US. Other countries have similar programs.) People who join the registry can help any person, not just Nick.
- The test is a simple cheek swab. The actual donation can be a blood draw or a more complex procedure, which would have some side-affects from which people bounce back quickly. This link has facts about the procedural aspects of bone marrow donation.
- Testing is going on RIGHT NOW @ EMC World in Orlando in Room 206B. You can also stop by the Bloggers Lounge in the main pavilion for more information.
Colleagues of mine are also helping to spread the word for Nick:
Mark Frederickson - the official update spot for all the latest information
Len Devanna
Storagezilla
Polly Pearson
The Storage Anarchist
Please pass this information along. The farther we reach, the more we can help!
Jamie
Blog: http://jamiepappas.typepad.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jamiepappas
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