URGENT: Please help save my cousin's life

[armstrong]

My cousin Christine in the US is battling cancer, and urgently needs to find a bone marrow donor. Unfortunately, finding a perfect match for her bone marrow type is particularly difficult. This is hard enough for the average person; there are over 20,000 types of bone marrow, so the average person has a 1 in 20,000 chance of finding a match. These numbers are even worse for Christine. Because she is Filipino, she needs to find a donor of the same ethnic background, and there are hardly any Filipinos on the US National Registry.

Right now is our best chance of having the Bone Marrow Transplant work. Each day's delay decreases her chances of surviving. Please contact your Filipino friends or relatives in the US, and ask them to contact their friends. Anyone you know who is all or part Filipino and between the ages of 18 and 61 is a potential donor. The system is nationwide, so it doesn't matter where they live. Signing up on the registry is easy and painless. All it requires is a simple blood test. Some hospitals charge a small fee for this blood test, however the fee is routinely waived for minorities, and often for Caucasians as well, especially if you are willing to donate a pint of blood.

You can find a registration center by selecting your state on the map on this website. These centers can refer you to bone marrow drives in your community.

http://www.marrow.org/cgi-bin/NETWORK/map.pl?ctr_typ=DC

There is also a wonderful organization in Los Angeles that arranges free registration for Filipino donors.

www.asianmarrow.org

If you have trouble finding a site in your area, have any trouble finding a place to donate for free, or have additional questions, you can reach Christine's boyfriend Jacob at this email address:

info [at] christine.site.ph

You can reassure your friends that signing up for the registry does not require donating any bone marrow. If it turns out they are a match, they will be contacted, and can make the decision at that point about becoming a donor.

There are lots of misconceptions about donating bone marrow. The procedure is considered minor, simple and safe. You will be anesthetized the whole time, so you will not feel anything. When the procedure is over, you may have some soreness in the area for a day or two and you may feel a little tired. That's it. The bone marrowyou donate is replenished within 3-4 weeks. And again, you will only undergo this procedure if your blood sample shows that you are a match and you decide to donate, in which case the slight soreness you'll be feeling will be saving someone's life.

All medical expenses for the donor will be covered by Christine's insurance.

You can find out more about the registry and the donation procedure at this website:

www.marrow.org

Thank you!

Apollo a.k.a. "armstrong" :hearts:

 

[NPQueen]

Oh my goodness... my heart just about burst out of my chest!! I can't believe it, she is going home!! Such amazing news. She truly is an inspiration to me. Never give up... even when there is too much fog to see where you are going!

 

[wmcode]

Really God Bless her...

 

[CrazyTech]

Amen.

The only word that comes to mind right now.

Wooo!!!! :D

 

[Sabre]

That's amazing news

So glad she can finally get back to her family. She is truely an inspiration to us all.

 

[carter15_bebe]

God Bless her.

 

[Keral_Patel]

Thanks God.

Me and Kenny discussed it way before this operation took place. And when that bone marrow was found.

Kenny was very depressed and It was me who told him that Nothing can come upon christine if God is standing beside her. Not even cancer. At that time I knew my wordings sounded hollow.

This surely makes my heart cry. Long live christine. You are a very brave girl. I would have shot myself if I had been through all this.

 

[rahxephon85]

She is one lucky girl... god bless her :D

 

[Rudy]

She is, indeed one very blessed girl. Praise the Lord for the miracles He has done in her life, and how he has used her to be an inspiration to so many. I know that this past college semester has been a killer for me so I haven't been able to think a lot about Christine. But when I did, I continued to say a short prayer for her. I will continue to do so.

Thank you, B33R, once again for keeping us all up to speed on this. Let's not forget to continue to do two things:
1) Praise the Lord
2) Continue to pray for and encourage Armstrong & his cousin, Christine!

 

[armstrong]

I just spoke to Christine ...

She just got back from the latest round of tests. The good news is that her platelet count is up to 106! Normal minimum is about 150. And as far as we know, there is no bad news.

I'm trying to convince her to start and manage her own myspace account, so she can provide more frequent - and public - updates about her situation, which can serve as inspiration to others facing their own often (but not always!) less daunting trials.

Christine's birthday is coming up on the 26th of this month. Just after her transplant, she was told that she had even odds of surviving til that date. But with that day less than 3 weeks away, it would be foolish to bet against her! I'm thinking of sending her something special. Ideas, anyone?

 

[stscac]

Great to hear! Wish her the best for me.

Whats going on with savechristine.com? Haven't seen anything going on there for a while.

-Steve

 

[B33R]

Great news! Thanks for the update, Apollo.

I have no idea what you could get her. It has to be something REALLY special!

We should've all got her a big card and got as many of her supporters as possible, around the world, to physically sign it. Kinda like a big congratulations but also recognition for her courage and bravery. Proof the world is still a caring place. Maybe spur the cause along for other people and raise awareness too.

 

[Dave_Z]

I'm thinking of sending her something special. Ideas, anyone?

A full print-out of this entire thread. :D

That's great news, Apollo!

 

[armstrong]

After the server crashed, savechristine.com was simply neglected. We waited it out for a while hoping that serverwizards can rescue the hard drive. Unfortunately, her website was not part of my backup routine, so we basically lost everything. By that time, she had already undergone her transplant, so there was less pressure on her website support group to get things moving again.

As I said above, I'm trying to talk Christine into maintaining her own myspace account. Then I can just forward savechristine.com to her myspace url.

 

[weblord]

thanks for the headsup, and welcome back

 

[armstrong]

We should've all got her a big card and got as many of her supporters as possible, around the world, to physically sign it.

I like that idea! Perhaps not for this year, but for next. It could be a Guinness record ... the most-signed and most-travelled get-well-card in the world!

But how do we keep the card from getting lost en-route? Mails have a small chance of getting lost. Send it often enough, and it would be a certainty.

 

[weblord]

why not make it a get-well card soon flash card and hosted on a server?

I like that idea! Perhaps not for this year, but for next. It could be a Guinness record ... the most-signed and most-travelled get-well-card in the world!

But how do we keep the card from getting lost en-route? Mails have a small chance of getting lost. Send it often enough, and it would be a certainty.

 

[Kenny]

why not make it a get-well card soon flash card and hosted on a server?

William.... you got it going on. But we can still make it a Birthday card too, and I think we could find a prog that will allow access to the card and digi sign it. MS Info Path, anyone know if that would work? Like email ppl and have them sign and then merge it into the Doc/Card?
This is cool.
And Great news!!!!!

Thanks for the update bro.

 

[B33R]

I love the real card idea but just imagine what a logistical nightmare it'd be... Not only bad postal services but the time it'd take to send it just between a few countries/people. It'd take months if not years just for a few hundred people.

It could be a Guinness record ... the most-signed and most-travelled get-well-card in the world!

I like your way of thinking!

The chances of it getting lost or inadvertantly sent to the wrong person (like someone who'd ruin it or destroy it just for kicks) are probably too high. As with many good ideas involving people in multiple countries or just large numbers of people in general.

An ecard of some sort is definitely the way to go, not quite as good or meaningful but much safer.

 

[swimjenni]

I'm glad Christine is doing better!

Everyone could sign using their mouse in Microsoft Paint or whatever program they want/have and then save as an image. Then email all the images and place in word. Print out and its very long signed card. Just an idea...

 

[weblord]

something like this will do
http://bravenet.com/webtools/guestmap/
but remotely hosted and people from all over the world can just sign in ..

William.... you got it going on. But we can still make it a Birthday card too, and I think we could find a prog that will allow access to the card and digi sign it. MS Info Path, anyone know if that would work? Like email ppl and have them sign and then merge it into the Doc/Card?
This is cool.
And Great news!!!!!

Thanks for the update bro.