A request, from Pasadena

Good morning. A reader passed this along, and I'll do the same. Give it some thought. Thanks.

"Scott Kleinman of Sotheby's International Realty and the Pasadena-Foothills Assn. of Realtors was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia five years ago. Since then, he has undergone three cycles of chemotherapy at City of Hope and has participated in an experimental drug protocol. The chemotherapy has been ineffective, and his condition is critical. Scott is now in need of a bone marrow transplant, and so far there are no matches in the bone marrow registry.

"Registering requires only swabbing the inside of your mouth. Donating marrow is now typically done by removing stem cells from the blood, not the hip. You will not be asked to donate marrow unless you are a match for someone whose life depends on your marrow."

For more information, call PFAR at (626) 795-2455, or go to Scott's website.

Comments

[gettheetoAnonnery]

I wish this guy the best of luck.

I would also encourage minorities including African Americans and Hispanics to think long and hard about registering for the donor list. You are desparately needed.

[Dave]

You can sign up at the Blood Donor Center at City of Hope too. They are in Duarte. There are details here: http://www.cityofhope.org/BloodDonorCenter/marrow.htm and they are open on Saturdays. Good luck with your leukemia Scott. You can beat it.

[Hula Girl]

What a great way to contribute to something useful and keep perspective on what's truly important - more rewards than than a new SUV. And all the equity in the world isworth bupkes if we don't have our health.

Thanks, Peter!

[Roger Moore]

Everyone who can should definitely register. Registering is easy, and it's a chance to do something important. Relatively few people will ever get the call, but it's impossible to know if you're one of them if you aren't registered.

I am actually in the lucky 0.5% of people in the registry who have been asked to donate. Donating takes some time and inconvenience, but it's one of the greatest things I've ever done in my life. If I'm ever asked again- and it does happen occasionally- I'd say yes in a heartbeat.

[shireen]

God bless him. My dad had CLL but in the end his heart did him in before the cancer did. I hope Mr. Kleinman finds a donor and has many more years to enjoy life.

[William Jones]

I signed up and I encourage everyone to do so...

Think about this. Each of us can't do much about the market. We watch the stats come in and give our various interpretations of them. However, each of us have the potential to positively affect at least one other life - maybe even save it. Let's all go for it!

Go Scot! I hope I'm a match. If not...maybe someone else here will be!

[markl]

cant i just walk into a local hospital and donate?Im in the sf valley...

[Roger Moore]

"cant i just walk into a local hospital and donate?" --markl

Sadly, you can't. You can only donate bone marrow if you're a close match to the recipient. There's about a 1/4 chance of matching a sibling, a much lower chance of matching any other relative, and on average only about a one in a million chance of matching a random stranger. For people with rare types the chance is much less than one in a million. There are about 6 million people in the national registry, and many patients still can't find a match.

If you are a match, you can't necessarily go in and donate just anywhere. The newer, less invasive way of taking the donation requires specialized equipment that isn't available at every hospital. Donating bone marrow (the old fashioned way) is relatively simple, but you're still best off having an experienced doctor in charge of the procedure. Either way, you'll probably want to go to a specialist cancer hospital for the donation.

[KosherKrab]

Roger Moore's an angel