| Hope for Natalie Nakatani |
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For more information on Natalie, visit her website: http://www.hopefornatalie.com/ Below is a personal appeal from Natalie's father: My daughter Natalie has leukemia (AML). She went through 6 months of chemo in 2008, but the leukemia came back. We need to find bone marrow donor in the next 30 days.
The biggest need is for us to find an Asian match for Natalie. Due to her uncommon ethnic ancestry, we're having a tough time finding a match. If you know anyone who is Asian, or has this Asian ethnic mix: 1/2 Japanese, 3/8 Chinese, 1/8 Vietnamese,
Please ask them to do a simple, painless test. They may save her life.
-Grant Nakatani Before you sign up, please be willing to make this sacrifice. The worst thing to happen would be for you to be a match, then back out at the last minute. 1) The initial testing phase is painless. You take a sterile cotton swab and wipe the inside of your cheek. Next, you put the swab inside the folder provided and send the self-addressed, stamped return envelope to the lab. Go to a donor drive or register for a home kit on-line: When you send the kit back, label it: URGENT: NATALIE NAKATANI 2) Donating If you are lucky enough to be a match, there are 2 ways to donate. You have a choice. The doctors generally recommend one method, but ultimately you as the donor have a choice. You should NOT have to fly anywhere; most local hospitals will be able to perform either procedure. a) Method 1: Marrow donation You go to your local hospital and have a brief outpatient procedure. They will give you anaesthesia so you will not feel any pain during the marrow extraction. The doctor will poke a special needle into your hip and take some bone marrow. You will be discharged from the hospital later that day. You will have some discomfort in your hip for a few days and your bone marrow will regrow completely within a few weeks. b) Method 2: Blood cell collection For 4 days before the collection, you will receive one injection per day of a synthetic protein called filgrastim. Filgrastim increases your cell count. On the day of collection, your blood is removed from one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the collection cells. The remaining blood is returned to you through the other arm. The cell collection is an outpatient procedure which takes about 6-8 hours and is done over a 1-2 day period. Most donors experience headaches, or bone or muscle aches several days before the collection. This is a side effect of the filgrastim injections. The aches subside shortly after the collection. |
Natalie, a loving 8-year-old daughter, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia (AML). Natalie was in remission after 5 rounds of chemo, but as of January 19th, her cancer returned. She urgently needs a bone marrow transplant to live. Because of the critical shortage of minority and multi-racial donors, her search is especially difficult.