Looking for Some Bloggers' help- What if this was you?

...About 6,000 people nationally are waiting for bone marrow transplants, and about 11 million are registered as donors. Ethnicity is the key to finding a match....

Overall I maintain a pretty light blog, but in this giving season, I have a cause that needs some giving and support. The Concord Monitor and a Boston News station (WCVB) has covered the story of a young mother in Concord, NH who has just been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. Nicole Nelson was diagnosed this past summer, a few months before her first born daughter turned one. Her co-workers have banded together to work on getting a bone marrow match and the first two drives here in New Hampshire had 1000 potential donors show up to have their cheeks swabbed for testing. That's right, a swab! I could get technical here and talk about the background of testing for transplantation, but rather than causing glazed eyes, the simple fact is that bone marrow transplants can save lives!!!!!!

Based on genetic testing, it appears that Nicole's bone marrow type is rarer than most due to her Native American and French background. Her husband has posted a note at the 500 Nations website for help from the Massachusett's Powwows in an effort to spread the word.

According to the Concord Monitor Article
" About 6,000 people nationally are waiting for bone marrow transplants, and about 11 million are registered as donors. Ethnicity is the key to finding a match.

Minorities are not well-represented in the national donor base, which is why Nelson, diagnosed in September, has had trouble finding a match.

A search for a preliminary match turned up four Japanese people, leading her doctor to ask what she perceived as a strange question.

"My doctor said, 'You're obviously not Asian; do you have any Native American descendants?' " Nelson said. "I said that I didn't think so but that I'd ask my mother. She said yeah."

Asian people settled the Americas and helped form the foundation for American Indians. Nelson's great-grandfather was half Abenaki."

It breaks my heart to read this story, this could be me, you, your sister, cousin or friend....

So this is the part where I would love to see some blogging community help, let's spread the word:
1. A packet has been given to Oprah Winfrey this past Sunday regarding the need to increase awareness for more bone marrow donors with Nicole's story- you can send an email to Oprah and let them know that this would be a great public service story to cover. The need for bone marrow donors is important for 6,000 people. To request that Oprah feature Nicole Nelson's story on her TV show, log on to oprah.com, click on the "Inside Oprah" tab in the upper-left corner and select "E-mail Us."

2. I put a story on Digg it: Getting Oprah to Support bone marrow transplants - please go digg it and get the story seen by more people.

3. If you are interested in seeing if you qualify to be a donor or looking for a bone marrow drive near you, please click on this link: National Marrow Donor Program Registry for information about drives near you.

4. Please blog and spread the word for the need of more Bone Marrow donors in the registry.

I will share the link love and if you post, let me know and I will keep a list of links on this post. Let's spread the news. Feel free to copy this and email this to friends and relatives.

Peace to all and thank you.