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Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

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Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#31

Post by cptskippy »

Appeals like this always bother me. You can weed out incompatible donors by simply comparing blood types and yet no one ever posts compatible blood types or even their blood type. This seems like such a simple thing to do to increase your chances of finding a compatible donor.

There's always a limited number of free tests available but how many are wasted* on people with the wrong blood type? The tests are expensive and if someone knows up front they're not compatible but can afford to pay for a test, they might instead donate funds instead to purchase free tests for those that might be compatible but otherwise couldn't afford to get tested.

Here is who can donate to whom with regards to marrow transplants:

    Type A can donate to types A and AB.

    Type B can donate to types B and AB.

    Type AB can donate to type AB.

    Type O can donate to types A, B, AB, and O.
*I know that tests aren't wasted because the people are entered into a DB that benefits all marrow transplant recipients but the individual appealing to others for help could improve their odds.

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#33

Post by danvideo »

I know a baby girl who received a transplant last week as a result of a match - after MONTHS of searching, thankfully.

Of course I'm sorry to see this story, but definitely important to publicize these drives for donors. Even if you're not of South Asian descent it's a good idea to get on the registry!

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#34

Post by kareemm »

xutopia wrote: post #2

If you live in Canada you can learn about how to donate here: http://www.blood.ca/ (despite the name it's not just about giving blood).

Thanks! Amit is a pal and I live north of the 49th parallel. Will be joining the Canadian marrow registry shortly.

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#35

Post by madrobby »

cptskippy wrote: post #31

Appeals like this always bother me. You can weed out incompatible donors by simply comparing blood types and yet no one ever posts compatible blood types or even their blood type. This seems like such a simple thing to do to increase your chances of finding a compatible donor. There's always a limited number of free tests available but how many are wasted* on people with the wrong blood type? The tests are expensive…

I along with other folks have donated nearly $2000 in order to help pay for tests as part of Tony's NYC swab party http://happymonster.co/2011/10/06/lets-help-amit-gupta-defea...

That said, lots of people don't even know their blood types and that shouldn't be used as a barrier when the DB does need more ethnic diversity, period.

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#36

Post by akuchling »

deepGem wrote: post #5

How about people based in the sub-continent. Do you necessarily have to be based out of US or Canada to donate.

A friend-of-a-friend ran a similar campaign for her brother, and she assembled a long list of registries: http://www.healemru.com/registries.php

I think the national registries share data, so a match in a non-US country should be reported.

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#37

Post by Hisoka »

ck2 wrote: post #15
davidu wrote: post #10

Fuck Cancer. ^ | | | | [Edit: Anyone who has gone through it, or has had loved ones deal with it knows what I'm talking about.]

It's also important to realize there are dozens of different kinds of cancer even though they all share the same word. What freaks me out is women have a 1 in 3 chance of getting cancer and men 1 in 2 : http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerBasics/lifetime-probabili...

Yes, this freaks me out too, and makes the vast majority of humans insane for not taking care of their health... all the more reason to be vigilant, not complacent.

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#38

Post by [deleted] »

ck2 wrote: post #15
davidu wrote: post #10

Fuck Cancer. ^ | | | | [Edit: Anyone who has gone through it, or has had loved ones deal with it knows what I'm talking about.]

It's also important to realize there are dozens of different kinds of cancer even though they all share the same word. What freaks me out is women have a 1 in 3 chance of getting cancer and men 1 in 2 : http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerBasics/lifetime-probabili...

[deleted]

Re: Photojojo, Jelly founder needs bone marrow match to save his life

#39

Post by kens »

diolpah wrote: post #23

Here's an unpopular thought, but one that may not be on the list of "things too taboo to think about" for HN readers. What if marrow donation was a for-profit industry, or at the very least a nonprofit or government-run industry that allowed people to sell their marrow at market prices? Would Amit and thousands of others in his position be resorting to begging for access to life-saving treatments, or being put on wai…

The economics of bone marrow are different, because finding the match is the hard part. The strange thing is that they often charge the person _registering_ their bone marrow: http://marrow.org/Join/FAQs_about_Joining.aspx#cost This is just insane - how many people would donate blood if they were expected to pay or were hit up for cash donations? (And why does it cost $100 when 23 and Me's DNA analysis is $99? (Is bone marrow typing a DNA test, or something else?))

To be clear, I recommend registering your marrow. I've registered mine (and am disappointed that nobody has needed it yet). You can do it without being required to pay: http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx

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