first an formost i apolagise for the "wall-of -text", i urge you to carry on.
It is time for me to do a post as a responsible citizen of Singapore. Although I am not in Singapore at the moment I do keep myself updated with the news and happenings in Singapore. While reading a piece of news actually caught my attention. And I feel more people have to know about this and something as to be done.
It is about a leukemia patient Sebha Punnen, 34, who needs a bone marrow transplant. The chances of her getting a match are 1 in 8 trillion - that's 8 followed by 12 zeroes. From the local Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) and its international network, she found 3 matches, one from the US and one from Singapore itself and one from Germany. The ones from US and Singapore declined to donate. (We don’t know their reasons why so we shall not accuse them of anything). But luckily the match from Germany agreed to carry on with the transplant.
Madam Sebha, is also a senior staff nurse at KK Women's and Children's Hospital. For someone who dedicated her life to help others, she got her reward with the possible match.
The Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) was started in 1993 in Singapore, from then till now he registry only has 43,000 people on its registry, that is less than 1 per cent of Singapore’s population.
Of which, less than 1 percent come from the minority ethnic groups. There are only 3,500 Malay and Indian registered potential donors.
Shocking? Right.
From now on I am not going to bother making monetary donations to charitable organizations; instead I’ll donate my marrow and blood.
This is a chance for a common man to become a hero, to make a change in someone’s life. Sebha was lucky she found a match in Germany, but not many people are as lucky as her. Just 1 present for a first world country is embarrassing. We are all educated to understand the need and what need to be done. I think it is the failure of the health board in raising awareness for this illness. Now lots of media coverage for the kidney foundation and for blood donation drives, why not bone marrow? If we get our self tested and make ourselves available and make up the numbers, somewhere in another corner of the world we will create hope. For some who are waiting for a suitable donor, hope is all that is left in them, so let’s do our part. I am going to help out in this by making myself available once I go back to Singapore.
This is not only for Singapore but for the whole world. My readers take up this chance to be a hero in someone’s life. Many of you might not be Singaporeans, but you could also make a difference by contacting the medical authorities in your region.
References:
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,179661,00.html
want to know more about bone marrow donation, procedures and side effects go here:
http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/When_You_re_Asked_to_Donate_fo/Donation_FAQs/index.html
7 comments:
yup i agree with u... Singaporeans aren t that willing to donate... They could donate once a year too! Is that too much? Can t spare 2 hours of 365 days? Though i don t donate bone marrow, i donate blood whenever i can... There is a difference between ignorance and obscure.. Between, is that lady's blood grp rare? just curious
it is not about the blood group. A matching blood group is not the only requirement, the bone marrow has to match. a wrong match would cause death.
by opting to donate your bone marrow, you don't donate it now, u just give a sample for them to add to the worldwide database, and should someone need it then only, you are required to donate.
BTW
thanks for donating blood.
wut a compassionate and brilliant msg to the whole world!
Keshi.
@Keshi:i am glad i have spread the message.
-Vasanthan
Now that you mentioned it, I also realized our dear Singapore with all its glamor and lights in the recent F1, has missed out on something as important as someone else's life. I wonder why too, that bone marrow donation program was not as extensively publicized.
the only side effect is just a back ache for 2 weeks , which we are willing to get from a couple of other activities but not to help someone?
i think we should all give and help when we can. god will take care of us. lets do out part to help ones who have been overlooked
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