How to Save A Life in DC + NYC — UPDATED

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Remember Vinay? I blogged about him because he direly needs a bone marrow transplant and his best chance at finding a match lies with us. Unsurprisingly, several of you said you would step up and get swabbed, if only you had the opportunity to do so. Well, after throwing more meetups than any other mutineer, I know for a fact that DC has a TON of SM readers– now make good on your word to help.

You can even do so TODAY— look:

* * *
THURSDAY, JUNE 14 – DOWNTOWN D.C.
4:30p to 7:30p
Asian American Justice Center
1140 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 1200
Washington, DC
Contact: DCdonorDrive@aol.com or Rachna at (202) 256-4326

Can’t make it? Live in the burbs? Try these:

* * *
SATURDAY, JUNE 16 – LANHAM, MD
10:30a to 3:30p
Sri Shiva Vishnu Temple
6905 Cipriano Rd.
Lanham, MD
Contact: Aditya at aditya.raghavendra@gmail.com or (617) 872-0081
* * *
SUNDAY, JUNE 17 – BALTIMORE, MD
9:30a to 5:00p
Greater Baltimore Temple
2909 Bloom Rd.
Finksburg, MD
Contact: Seema at indiaseema@hotmail.com or (949) 291-2545

5:45 PM UPDATE–

* * *

Jane says (she’s done with Sergio) that a NEW YORK Drive commences in 15 minutes;

Hey in NYC tonite as well….
Public House
141 East 41st St (between Lexington and Third Avenues), New York, NY
Thursday, June 14, 6:00pm to 10:00pm

One of our longtime readers lost a parent to this tragic disease last week. Some of you know whom I’m referring to and if you haven’t already given a little bit of yourself, maybe this message from their family will move you:

In lieu of flowers, please help save a life and register with the national bone marrow registry or get someone else to register (www.marrow.org).

How many people whom we know and love must we lose before you register?

31 thoughts on “How to Save A Life in DC + NYC — UPDATED”

  3. You can register/swab from home also

    Very true. Great idea, whatever gets people to step up, let’s do it.

    Having typed that, if you go to SSVT or Baltimore this weekend, you get the ADDED bonus of calling your Mom afterwards and sweetly announcing that you actually went to temple, unlike your heathen little sibling, who never, ever goes, and aren’t you the better one etc, which will make her just kvell. 😉

    I keed, I keed. I totally don’t do that every Sunday. 😀

  4. here is a list of SAMAR’s drives coming up. also, i just spoke to dr. khan at SAMAR, and they said they would be glad to set up a drive if anybody feels they should have one in their area. they’ve just added two more in TX (irving and austin) next weekend. maybe if people are going to the desi conferences on july 4 weekend, you can contact somebody to have one set up. i’m trying to work out something for the tamil convention.

  5. I gave a sample at the LA drive last week, took hardly 10 minutes, my prayers and best wishes to Vinay and his family..

  8. I registered maybe 11 years ago. The lady whose cancer inspired the drive passed away, but hopefully other lives were saved by registering so many other brown folks.

  9. Hey in NYC tonite as well….

    Public House 141 East 41st St (between Lexington and Third Avenues), New York, NY Thursday, June 14, 6:00pm to 10:00pm

  11. Anna :: hugs

    REGISTER! REGISTER! REGISTER!

    Let’s not lose anyone else we love to cancer. Sending my best wishes and prayers to Vinay and his family.

  14. ANNA have you registered yet? What happens?

    I did a registration drive last Friday night to sign up people. I’ll blog about it soon. It is a 10 minute form followed by a two minute cheek swab. That is it.

  15. ANNA have you registered yet? What happens?

    Yup. Back in 2004. 🙂 What happened to me was actually a different procedure– the swabbing inside your cheek-thing is WAY easier.

    ::

    From our source at today’s scene in DC:

    I went to the bone marrow drive, and they actually ran out of swab kits! I was the first of several people who were turned away, we’ll have to wait until next time I guess. But good that the turnout was so high.

    MUTINEERS. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! 😀 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

  18. hey! I tried to get swab at an event in NYC. All they had there was a sad little stack of flyers and no swabs! I added my name to the email list after strong-arming the event coordinators who seemed more concerned with promoting the DJ. They never emailed me back. I really want to help! What can I do?

  19. Registered today and thought I should mention this about the process.

    You will need to provide two people of contact (non living together) in case your contact info falls out of being current. It’s good idea to bring that information so you’re not calling people at last minute for their correct addresses.

  20. Anna,

    Consider your post incredibly worthwhile–I just signed up as a result of it. Kudos to you for bringing this up!

  21. nk, there is another one at NYU Med tomorrow, and a few others in the metropolitan area coming up. check here for all the dates and info. you can also order a kit in the mail.

  22. Hello, We are conducting a drive this weekend for folks in Connecticut: Location: Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society, 11 Training Hill Rd, Middletown, CT 06457 Date: Saturday, June 16th 2007 Time: 9 AM to 3 PM. Contact: Temple at 860-346-8675 or yours truly, Prashanth ( iprash@gmail.com / 203 761 4651 ). SM readers in Connecticut, we need all the donors we can get! Thanks! -prash.

  23. I am glad that the link to “ultrabrown” was made (kudos to #1).

    I have a couple of questions, and I hope someone may have answers. Do you register every year or so or is registering once enough. Just wondering.

    Also, my parents want to register. They are both well over age 60 but in robust health, are very energetic (but both are diabetic but it is under control). We noticed that the bone marrow donor age requirements are to be between the ages of 18 to 60 or something like that. Is it possible to have exceptions to the rules?

  24. gm, once you are in the registry, no further steps are required to update. re your parents, i think that rule is probably strict, but if you have questions, call SAMAR – they’re really helpful.

  25. I just registered in Boston tonight at a TIE event. Vinay’s wife Rashmi was there. Tired, but with a smile on her face, she was handing out the forms and making sure each question on every questionnaire was answered. Hope she finds what she is looking for in the many forms she got back tonight.

  26. I read this post earlier and looked up to find a drive going on here in houston n then fnd roopa’s post here on SM giving out her contact info.(that turned out to be crucial) we have a big gang of desis here 30 ish ppl who meet for potluck in n out the weekends. So i sent out an email explaining this cause n giving links earlier in the day n then talked abt it post dinner. but could get only 2 ppl apart from my husband n me to come over ten minutes drive away n contribute. though i had quite simply n clearly explained the procedures for donating ( the cheek swab n also the later on donation procedures if a match is found) i found out later that the ppl who did not go were drinking n joking ( v childidh really) abt the body parts that would be removed for surgery n stuff like that.They have not had a brush with any misfortune in life so far i guess( inevitable for us all) so they did not ralize the seriousnes of this. ( Don’t go if you don’t want to but please this is not a joke subject!) i keep thinking that a bettter or different presentation would have got more ppl because all these ppl are otherwise decent helpful regular.There’s just the fear of going in unneeded medical procedures.any ideas or sugggestions ( for them or me )? sorry for the long post

  27. not feeling good, i have run a few drives for SAMAR, and i know the frustration very well. i don’t know what would be a better presentation, because people are afraid of the fear of having to go through a medical procedure. the fact that it’s for a stranger is also no help – it’s always somebody else’s problem. i think if people do not already feel that a small medical procedure is worth potentially saving a life, then no presentation is going to sway them. it has to be in them to help.

  28. A N N A:

    Many thanks for the post & reminder. And thank you DC for registering! This weekend we crossed the 4000 mark–but the fight ain’t over. Several drives are forthcoming–click here for info.

    ak wrote:

    i’m trying to work out something for the tamil convention.

    FYI Team Vinay is slated to be at:

    TANA (Telugu convention) – July 5-7, Washington, D.C. FETNA (Tamil convention) – July 7-9, Raleigh, NC BMM (Marathi conference) – Jun 28-Jul 1, Seattle, WA

    If you can volunteer, please email indiaseema@hotmail.com or call (949) 291-2545. We’re expecting thousands at each event and could use the hands.

    SP

  29. thanks ak :0) yes you are right.and your words gave me heart so i tried again on more ppl. two more have requested the home test kit.will speak about it to as many ppl as i speak with today!

  30. I’m lovin’ the totally inappropriate Jane’s Addiction reference. @=)

    I registered over the weekend, along with my cousin who was visiting from Canada. The small but steady trickle of complete strangers converging into an unknown place to do their part to save the life of a man they’ve probably never met was inspiring and moving. If haven’t already done so, I urge you to attend a drive or join the registry online. This is entirely doable: Vinay can live.

    Onward, ye mutineers! Heave-ho!! Yarrr!!!

  31. I was wondering if anybody is going to the Tamil conference next month, and would be able to organize a small-scale drive there? I cannot make it to the conference, but I thought it would be a good venue to add some more donors to the registry. If you are interested, please e-mail me : akpoola at gmail.com. The program will send you everything you need to conduct the drive, and I can arrange a table, location etc for you at the conference. Please do e-mail me if you are interested – I’ve been trying to go through the organizers of the conference, but nobody seems to have/want to take the time to do this. I figured that since the SM community is already keyed into this issue, it would be easier to find someone here to do it. Thanks.