Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

amitguptaneedsyou.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 247 posts

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#41

Post by jerfelix »

kevinelliott wrote: post #27

I feel absolutely helpless. I hate this situation. I don't know anyone who qualifies, and I certainly don't. The idea that Amit may not find a donor furiously irritates me. What's worse, none of my Facebook and Twitter followers have relayed the message further the several times I've posted about it. Then there's the swab kit sign up form. Oh my, what a pain. And then the guilt sets in where I begin to think 'Why am…

I registered about a year ago, when I saw a "Ted Talk" -like presentation that inspired me to. I researched it, and the registration process is painless, and now the donation process is fairly painless too.

Just register. You may save a life. Or maybe Kharma will save yours. Who knows.

Tons of YouTube videos are inspirational - like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Mu2Na4ajs

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#42

Post by ark15 »

qq66 wrote: post #4
rorrr wrote: post #3

Why doesn't he simply offer money? If I needed to survive, I'd offer something like all my savings, plus 50% of my net salary for 10 years.

This would most likely reduce the number of people who would screen themselves. I wouldn't undergo a possibly horrible medical procedure for $100,000, but I might do it to save someone's life and feel like a good person. For further reading, look into social norms vs. market norms, especially the example of the Israeli day care: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=180117 (paywall)

This can easily be solved by radio options on sign up form. Choose one from:

a)I am interested in $100,000 if I match.

b) Not in it for money but please donate $100,000 on my behalf to a charity

c)I am not in this for money. If I match, I am optimistic about your recovery so please keep the $100,000 to enjoy post recovery.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#43

Post by kevinelliott »

qq66 wrote: post #36
kevinelliott wrote: post #27

I feel absolutely helpless. I hate this situation. I don't know anyone who qualifies, and I certainly don't. The idea that Amit may not find a donor furiously irritates me. What's worse, none of my Facebook and Twitter followers have relayed the message further the several times I've posted about it. Then there's the swab kit sign up form. Oh my, what a pain. And then the guilt sets in where I begin to think 'Why am…

You're not ignoring those people. By signing up for the registry you can be matched against anyone who needs it. Whether Amit finds a donor or not (fingers crossed) his drive to get people tested will help other South Asian leukemia patients.

I am ignoring those people. Amit's high profile presence has made me think about the problem more, but I have not gone out of my way to see if any other people might be in need.

Sure, my registration in the database will help to match me against other people in need, but it doesn't inform me of people who are in need that I don't match.

See, that's what I mean. I feel guilty that I can't tell others about the thousands of people who are also in need. And really, even if I knew who all these other people were, my friends and family would get terribly annoyed that I would be telling them all about hundreds or thousands of other people in need.

See the problem? We care about Amit because he's high profile (and I'm glad we are trying!), but we do very little for the more 'anonymous' types. That's where my guilt comes in.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#44

Post by [deleted] »

qq66 wrote: post #4
rorrr wrote: post #3

Why doesn't he simply offer money? If I needed to survive, I'd offer something like all my savings, plus 50% of my net salary for 10 years.

This would most likely reduce the number of people who would screen themselves. I wouldn't undergo a possibly horrible medical procedure for $100,000, but I might do it to save someone's life and feel like a good person. For further reading, look into social norms vs. market norms, especially the example of the Israeli day care: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=180117 (paywall)

[deleted]

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#45

Post by cpher »

zasz wrote: post #35
freemarketteddy wrote: post #9

I am a south asian male living in the US.I tried to sign up as a donor.Here is my experience. >Your password needs to be between 8 and 15 characters long, must contain at least 1 number and 1 letter and cannot contain spaces. Seriously WTF....I am sure half of the people who wanted to sign up did not just for this bs! Okay chill...password abcd...... > In the past 5 years have you taken money or drugs in exchange for…

It costs money to sequence DNA and calculate someone's ancestry. 23andMe loses money whenever it sells a kit. Are you seriously too lazy to save a nonprofit a few hundred bucks by spending 1 second to indicate your race? Also, every time I buy something at a store, I have to give them my addresses. Including my phone number and a few extra ways to contact me in case I move, and you know, someone is dying and needs my…

Also, every time I buy something at a store, I have to give them my addresses.

I hope you're kidding...

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#46

Post by nikolaplejic »

kevinelliott wrote: post #27

I feel absolutely helpless. I hate this situation. I don't know anyone who qualifies, and I certainly don't. The idea that Amit may not find a donor furiously irritates me. What's worse, none of my Facebook and Twitter followers have relayed the message further the several times I've posted about it. Then there's the swab kit sign up form. Oh my, what a pain. And then the guilt sets in where I begin to think 'Why am…

(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but was closely present during a long lasting treatment of acute myeloid leukemia with no suitable donor in sight.)

To help folks suffering from leukemia in general, join your local bone marrow registry. Transplants can vastly improve the patient's chances of survival, and the typization process you need to go through to join is painless and harmless. But, more importantly: if they find you a match, do not back down. I've heard of cases where the potential donors got scared and gave up upon receiving the phone call.

There are two types of transplants used in treatments: stem cell and bone marrow transplants.

Stem cell transplants are relatively painless -- it's not entirely unlike dialysis for one's blood. Bone marrow transplants are far less trivial, requiring general anesthesia and a couple of days in the hospital. They are are, from what I could gather, far less common and more dangerous.

Also: when / if you join, try to talk all your friends into joining as well. :)

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#47

Post by waqf »

freemarketteddy wrote: post #9

I am a south asian male living in the US.I tried to sign up as a donor.Here is my experience. >Your password needs to be between 8 and 15 characters long, must contain at least 1 number and 1 letter and cannot contain spaces. Seriously WTF....I am sure half of the people who wanted to sign up did not just for this bs! Okay chill...password abcd...... > In the past 5 years have you taken money or drugs in exchange for…

> (Men only) In the past 5 years have you had sex, even once with another male?

That's a very, very different question from "... have you had sex, even once, with another male?" which I think is what they meant to ask.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#50

Post by jrockway »

zasz wrote: post #35
freemarketteddy wrote: post #9

I am a south asian male living in the US.I tried to sign up as a donor.Here is my experience. >Your password needs to be between 8 and 15 characters long, must contain at least 1 number and 1 letter and cannot contain spaces. Seriously WTF....I am sure half of the people who wanted to sign up did not just for this bs! Okay chill...password abcd...... > In the past 5 years have you taken money or drugs in exchange for…

It costs money to sequence DNA and calculate someone's ancestry. 23andMe loses money whenever it sells a kit. Are you seriously too lazy to save a nonprofit a few hundred bucks by spending 1 second to indicate your race? Also, every time I buy something at a store, I have to give them my addresses. Including my phone number and a few extra ways to contact me in case I move, and you know, someone is dying and needs my…

Also, every time I buy something at a store, I have to give them my addresses

Every store I've been to has been perfectly happy with only a green piece of paper with the number "20" written all over it.

Post reply on HN