Happy Saturday LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers!
I have been putting off writing, because I knew the next thing I posted would be my FOUR HUNDREDTH blog post. I felt like I couldn't just write my typical travel, cocktails or "why sometimes my work is annoying" story for the 400th post! I decided to wait to see if something "400-worthy" would happen in my life.
Even though I have fun stories of my recent trip to New York City (Actor John Lithgow was sitting next to me at Kenneth Branagh-Alex Kingston's version of "MacBeth"! I was in the front row for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and Neil Patrick Harris kissed the guy sitting next to me! I was in the front row for "Of Mice and Men" and I am pretty sure James Franco is now in love with me! [OK maybe not.]) ... and even though I want to compose a sonnet to the "Hot Sauce" cocktail I had last night at "The Avenue Eat/Drink" (Sriracha vodka + jalapeños = So Happy Lily) … were any of these events "400 worthy?" I didn't really think so …
I had read a quote that a friend posted that said "There's no need to rush. What's meant for you always arrives right on time." I decided to wait a little longer.
Then this morning I woke up … regretting that I had worn 5 inch heels to a 4 hour concert the night before (but hey I could see over everyone's heads! See video from the concert on my YouTube page.) I puttered around like an old man with a bad attitude while I ate breakfast (brunch?) and watched a "Daily Show" episode I had on my DVR. Finally I decided to get "productive" and pulled out my laptop to check Twitter and Facebook.
(Side Note: For 11 months I have successfully and quite happily been off Facebook - due to wanting to avoid time wasting, negativity and overall haters. However I recently returned in a limited capacity because (1) I need access for my social media volunteering and (2) three friends are having babies and I wanted to keep track of when they give birth. Instead of my 270+ friend list, I have a much smaller contacts list - please try not to take offense if you're one of the 210+ who I used to have on my FB. And hey if you are offended, you have a large number of people to form a support group with - so there's the silver lining! Please send me royalties from the "I Hate Lily" t-shirt sales and save me a piece of the "Lily Is Annoying!" sheet cake. Thanks and much appreciated!)
OK back to the story at hand - sore feet, not productive, turning to social media … My friends Mr. Hawaii and Mrs. Former Camp Director have two beautiful, young daughters who are 1/2 Asian and 1/2 Caucasian. They posted a picture of the girls eating donuts. They looked so cute, the picture could have been a donut ad. (Get those girls a modeling agent STAT!)
(Side note: I am not just oohing and aaahing over these kids because one happens to be named LILY … a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet ;-) But hey, chances are if you name your kids Lily, I will probably write in my blog about how smart, beautiful and wonderful they are … think it over.)
Now as a woman, I've been asked if I am having children for basically the past 300 years. In fact, some people I know think that I must hate children because I chose not to pop a half dozen from my uterus. (Some people are stupid.)
I don't hate kids. I love them … in limited amounts, where I can buy them toys, cute outfits and sugar-laden snacks and then leave for a cocktail when they start to have a meltdown. So when I saw this lovely picture of these two beautiful young children eating donuts on a Saturday morning, I did feel a strong stirring inside my soul …
a strong,
intense
desire to …
have a donut.
But since I don't live in a Dunkin' Donuts, I continued to scroll down my Facebook. I saw a picture of a handsome young boy in a baseball uniform. My friend Ms. Syracuse, who is soon to give birth to her first child (who should be named Lily regardless of gender), had shared the picture. I thought it must be one of her friends' children, but then I read the text with the picture.
The young boy is named Baylor Fredrickson and he is 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 German. He is six years old and he has leukemia. This is not a Facebook/internet hoax, but a real story. (See the ABC news story here.)
Baylor needs a bone marrow transplant in less than three months. However he needs a donor who is almost a perfect match, which would almost surely mean a "hapa" (mixed race) donor - in this case, 1/2 Caucasian, 1/2 Asian. Evidently, only one out of every 70,000 Americans fits this profile.
I am not 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 German. But I am 1/2 Caucasian and 1/2 Asian (Chinese and Polish). I thought about my friends' lovely half Asian-half Caucasian daughters who are younger than little Baylor. I thought about my sister who is 1/2 Chinese, 1/2 Irish. What if they were in young Baylor's shoes? Wouldn't I want to encourage every 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian in the world to register to see if they were a bone marrow donor match?
Yes! I'd be wanting to pound on every door - ask everyone and anyone who could, to please help.
If only one in every 70,000 Americans is 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian, then reduce that pool of hapa people to those who are medically eligible to donate bone marrow and then reduce that pool of people who would be a suitable match genetically to young Baylor … and then reduce that pool to people who have signed up on the bone marrow registry … the odds of finding Baylor a match in less than three months felt mind-blowing. To counteract these low odds, they need to raise the number of 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian potential donors who are on the registry. There are currently over 12,000 patients still searching for their match.
The post on Facebook urged everyone to share the post with anyone they knew who was 1/2 Caucasian and 1/2 Asian and ask them to go to the Asian American donor program to register for a free kit that will be mailed to your home, you take 4 cheek swabs and send them back. (The link is only for those who live in the United States. If you live outside of the U.S., you can go to this link.) There are also frequently asked questions pages that give more information on the process.
And even if you are 100% Asian, I would encourage you to register as a potential bone marrow donor as there is a lower number of ethnically Asian donors on the U.S. registry. A classmate's sister's life was saved from a bone marrow transplant from an Asian-American donor.
I just stared at my laptop screen processing the story in my head. I am "the one" in every 70,000 Americans who is 1/2 Caucasian and 1/2 Asian. Four little cheek swabs could mean the difference between life and death for a fellow Asian-American - whether child, man or woman. Knowing that the odds are so against finding the right genetic match under the current limited donor registry, how could I continue to scroll along my Facebook and ignore this opportunity to add one more person to the donor registry - one more potential match for someone who is fighting cancer?
I Googled "bone marrow transplants" to see how invasive the procedure would be. I reviewed the steps on how bone marrow is removed in a quick procedure. For me personally, I found the procedure to be an acceptable task if I were found to be a match.
I had absolutely no excuses why I should NOT register with the Asian-American donor program.
I went to http://www.aadp.org/
The Twitter account for the "Be The Match" Bone Marrow Registry is @BeTheMatch. I was happy to see this Tweet was currently being retweeted: Know someone of Asian and Caucasian heritage? Ask for a cheek swab: http://bethematch.org/rallyforbay/ #Rally4Bay
There are several registration drives in various cities as well, find out more about them here.
I hope that six year old Baylor Fredrickson finds the match he needs, but hope alone is not going to make this happen. I registered for the bone marrow donor registry because in cases like this, actions NOW mean more than well wishes or sympathy. This is definitely not the time to put things off tomorrow that you should do today.
I hope you will urge everyone you know (and yourself) who are medically eligible, to sign up for the bone marrow registry TODAY - and for the case of Baylor, especially reach out to your 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian friends, neighbors, acquaintances.
Thank you to all the LilyOnTheLam.Com readers, whether this is your first time reading or if you have read all FOUR HUNDRED of my posts. I hope you will tell the story of the need for bone marrow registrants to every person you know and urge them to tell everyone they know. For more information on requesting a home kit, please go to this link.
I cannot think of a better topic for my four hundredth blog post- it took me only a few minutes to request the home kit. It won't take much time to take four cheek swabs at home and mail the kit back in. But the return for my few minutes of time is so potentially great. I couldn't turn my back on an opportunity to help. I am glad I did it and I hope others will too.
I have been putting off writing, because I knew the next thing I posted would be my FOUR HUNDREDTH blog post. I felt like I couldn't just write my typical travel, cocktails or "why sometimes my work is annoying" story for the 400th post! I decided to wait to see if something "400-worthy" would happen in my life.
Even though I have fun stories of my recent trip to New York City (Actor John Lithgow was sitting next to me at Kenneth Branagh-Alex Kingston's version of "MacBeth"! I was in the front row for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and Neil Patrick Harris kissed the guy sitting next to me! I was in the front row for "Of Mice and Men" and I am pretty sure James Franco is now in love with me! [OK maybe not.]) ... and even though I want to compose a sonnet to the "Hot Sauce" cocktail I had last night at "The Avenue Eat/Drink" (Sriracha vodka + jalapeños = So Happy Lily) … were any of these events "400 worthy?" I didn't really think so …
I had read a quote that a friend posted that said "There's no need to rush. What's meant for you always arrives right on time." I decided to wait a little longer.
Then this morning I woke up … regretting that I had worn 5 inch heels to a 4 hour concert the night before (but hey I could see over everyone's heads! See video from the concert on my YouTube page.) I puttered around like an old man with a bad attitude while I ate breakfast (brunch?) and watched a "Daily Show" episode I had on my DVR. Finally I decided to get "productive" and pulled out my laptop to check Twitter and Facebook.
(Side Note: For 11 months I have successfully and quite happily been off Facebook - due to wanting to avoid time wasting, negativity and overall haters. However I recently returned in a limited capacity because (1) I need access for my social media volunteering and (2) three friends are having babies and I wanted to keep track of when they give birth. Instead of my 270+ friend list, I have a much smaller contacts list - please try not to take offense if you're one of the 210+ who I used to have on my FB. And hey if you are offended, you have a large number of people to form a support group with - so there's the silver lining! Please send me royalties from the "I Hate Lily" t-shirt sales and save me a piece of the "Lily Is Annoying!" sheet cake. Thanks and much appreciated!)
OK back to the story at hand - sore feet, not productive, turning to social media … My friends Mr. Hawaii and Mrs. Former Camp Director have two beautiful, young daughters who are 1/2 Asian and 1/2 Caucasian. They posted a picture of the girls eating donuts. They looked so cute, the picture could have been a donut ad. (Get those girls a modeling agent STAT!)
(Side note: I am not just oohing and aaahing over these kids because one happens to be named LILY … a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet ;-) But hey, chances are if you name your kids Lily, I will probably write in my blog about how smart, beautiful and wonderful they are … think it over.)
Now as a woman, I've been asked if I am having children for basically the past 300 years. In fact, some people I know think that I must hate children because I chose not to pop a half dozen from my uterus. (Some people are stupid.)
I don't hate kids. I love them … in limited amounts, where I can buy them toys, cute outfits and sugar-laden snacks and then leave for a cocktail when they start to have a meltdown. So when I saw this lovely picture of these two beautiful young children eating donuts on a Saturday morning, I did feel a strong stirring inside my soul …
a strong,
intense
desire to …
have a donut.
But since I don't live in a Dunkin' Donuts, I continued to scroll down my Facebook. I saw a picture of a handsome young boy in a baseball uniform. My friend Ms. Syracuse, who is soon to give birth to her first child (who should be named Lily regardless of gender), had shared the picture. I thought it must be one of her friends' children, but then I read the text with the picture.
The young boy is named Baylor Fredrickson and he is 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 German. He is six years old and he has leukemia. This is not a Facebook/internet hoax, but a real story. (See the ABC news story here.)
Baylor needs a bone marrow transplant in less than three months. However he needs a donor who is almost a perfect match, which would almost surely mean a "hapa" (mixed race) donor - in this case, 1/2 Caucasian, 1/2 Asian. Evidently, only one out of every 70,000 Americans fits this profile.
I am not 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 German. But I am 1/2 Caucasian and 1/2 Asian (Chinese and Polish). I thought about my friends' lovely half Asian-half Caucasian daughters who are younger than little Baylor. I thought about my sister who is 1/2 Chinese, 1/2 Irish. What if they were in young Baylor's shoes? Wouldn't I want to encourage every 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian in the world to register to see if they were a bone marrow donor match?
Yes! I'd be wanting to pound on every door - ask everyone and anyone who could, to please help.
If only one in every 70,000 Americans is 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian, then reduce that pool of hapa people to those who are medically eligible to donate bone marrow and then reduce that pool of people who would be a suitable match genetically to young Baylor … and then reduce that pool to people who have signed up on the bone marrow registry … the odds of finding Baylor a match in less than three months felt mind-blowing. To counteract these low odds, they need to raise the number of 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian potential donors who are on the registry. There are currently over 12,000 patients still searching for their match.
The post on Facebook urged everyone to share the post with anyone they knew who was 1/2 Caucasian and 1/2 Asian and ask them to go to the Asian American donor program to register for a free kit that will be mailed to your home, you take 4 cheek swabs and send them back. (The link is only for those who live in the United States. If you live outside of the U.S., you can go to this link.) There are also frequently asked questions pages that give more information on the process.
And even if you are 100% Asian, I would encourage you to register as a potential bone marrow donor as there is a lower number of ethnically Asian donors on the U.S. registry. A classmate's sister's life was saved from a bone marrow transplant from an Asian-American donor.
I just stared at my laptop screen processing the story in my head. I am "the one" in every 70,000 Americans who is 1/2 Caucasian and 1/2 Asian. Four little cheek swabs could mean the difference between life and death for a fellow Asian-American - whether child, man or woman. Knowing that the odds are so against finding the right genetic match under the current limited donor registry, how could I continue to scroll along my Facebook and ignore this opportunity to add one more person to the donor registry - one more potential match for someone who is fighting cancer?
I Googled "bone marrow transplants" to see how invasive the procedure would be. I reviewed the steps on how bone marrow is removed in a quick procedure. For me personally, I found the procedure to be an acceptable task if I were found to be a match.
I had absolutely no excuses why I should NOT register with the Asian-American donor program.
I went to http://www.aadp.org/
 |
| My Registry Request Submission Acknowledgement from Be The Match |
The Twitter account for the "Be The Match" Bone Marrow Registry is @BeTheMatch. I was happy to see this Tweet was currently being retweeted: Know someone of Asian and Caucasian heritage? Ask for a cheek swab: http://bethematch.org/rallyforbay/ #Rally4Bay
There are several registration drives in various cities as well, find out more about them here.
I hope that six year old Baylor Fredrickson finds the match he needs, but hope alone is not going to make this happen. I registered for the bone marrow donor registry because in cases like this, actions NOW mean more than well wishes or sympathy. This is definitely not the time to put things off tomorrow that you should do today.
I hope you will urge everyone you know (and yourself) who are medically eligible, to sign up for the bone marrow registry TODAY - and for the case of Baylor, especially reach out to your 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian friends, neighbors, acquaintances.
Thank you to all the LilyOnTheLam.Com readers, whether this is your first time reading or if you have read all FOUR HUNDRED of my posts. I hope you will tell the story of the need for bone marrow registrants to every person you know and urge them to tell everyone they know. For more information on requesting a home kit, please go to this link.
I cannot think of a better topic for my four hundredth blog post- it took me only a few minutes to request the home kit. It won't take much time to take four cheek swabs at home and mail the kit back in. But the return for my few minutes of time is so potentially great. I couldn't turn my back on an opportunity to help. I am glad I did it and I hope others will too.
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