Bone Marrow Registry Drive
APPNA Social Welfare and Disaster Relief Committee
By Rubina Inayat, MD Co-chair, SW&DR committee 2007.

APPNA has taken up many charitable projects in past and its efforts for the aid of earthquake victims of Pakistan and Kashmir are known to many. It is time like these when the members come closer to fulfill a humanitarian duty and make APPNA proud. As physicians, health care and concern for ailing humanity always takes precedence for us. Similar feelings were invoked when the case of "AG", a young medical student from Khyber Medical College surfaced and KMC Alumni association first became involved in her care. She had been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia and needed a bone marrow transplant to save her life. The social Welfare committee pledged to raise funds after her alumni took the initiatives and fundraising began. However, while money was a necessity, it became evident that another significant problem had emerged. None of her relatives or friends matched as a donor. Her classmates and medical college alumni launched a concerted effort, but no donor could be found in Pakistan. Finally, a donor was found in USA and funds were collected to provide financial help, but time had run out by then. It was a heartrending moment for everyone when they heard about the death of 'AG'.

The difficulty faced by 'AG' in matching a donor was primarily because there is no marrow donor registry in Pakistan where a pool of substantial number of potential donors is available for patients with serious blood disorders. In USA there are only 55,000 donors registered presently.

THEREFORE, THE SOCIAL WELFARE AND DISASRE RELIEF COMMITE OF APPNA HAS EMBARKED ON SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL MARROW REGISTRY PROGRAM FOR SOUTH ASIANS.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) was created in 1987 to provide marrow transplants to patients in need. Presently, it maintains a registry of 5.3 million HLA typed volunteers for potential marrow donation, but only 55,000 are of South Asian origin. This might seem like a significant number, but the probability of finding a match for a recipient is 20,000 from the same racial group. It is vital that South Asians make a personal commitment to become involved in saving the lives of our patients.
In March of 2007, the Social Welfare committee of APPNA started working with the South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters (SAMAR) to increase the number of South Asian Donors in USA. SAMAR has recruited more than 50,000 volunteer marrow donors and has facilitated 35 actual transplants.
APPNA and its SOCIAL WELFARE COMMITTEE takes pride in being a part of this wonderful initiative. We invite APPNA members and their families to participate in the MARROW DONOR REGISTRY DRIVE and become a marrow donor. We have held drives at APPNA's local chapter and alumni events in Dallas, TX. Edison, NJ. Phoenix, AZ., ST Louise, MO, Orlando FL and Louisville, KY, and last one at Rampa Florida during which 135 members became donors. The efforts of fundraising and registry drive came about due to combined efforts of Dr. Mohammad Taqi, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Dr. Aisha Zafar, Dr. Babar Cheema, Dr. Sophia Janjua, Dr. Sajid Chaudhary and Dr. Saima Zafar.
JOIN US IN OUR EFFORTS TO SAVE A LIFE:
It takes just 10 minutes for potential donors to fill out a form and give a buccal swab for HLA typing. The donor information and HLA typing results will be entered in the national marrow registry. Should a patient like 'AG' need a marrow transplant, a donor is located whose HLA type matches the patient's HLA. The donor will undergo a health screening and then go through a brief and painless process of marrow donation which can be done by bone marrow aspirate or peripheral blood stem cell donation by intravenous method at no cost to the donor.
By spending a few minutes of your time, you can become a bone marrow donor, and make a GLORIOUS GIFT OF life to someone whose only hope to life is a benefactor like you.
At present, committee is looking to recruit more volunteers from different regions of USA. APPNA chapters are a special focus for this endeavor as Chapter presidents and active members can take a lead and spearhead drives during the local events in the area. They in turn can also recruit members of local community to participate in the project and raise awareness. Team from SW&DR committee will coordinate the efforts at the central level and maintain communication with the chapter volunteers. The volunteers will need to do a 20 minute training session, which can be done via internet. This will ensure that volunteer's participation is according to the standards of NMDP.
We also request the members to let us know when there is an event by their local chapter, alumni association or local community and we can assist them in arranging a bone marrow registry drive at the event.
Call us at 407-963-3390 or e-mail at pasneri2001@yahoo.com.