Free drives by NMDP

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Day Six at the Hospital


It has already been five days of Chemo and Vishal is still struggling to adjust to it. His bouts of nausea are becoming more frequent making it difficult for him to eat. The doctors are still monitoring him, so far the result of the chemo are as expected i.e. his cell count is decreasing. Though it has become very painful and grueling he is still being positive and cheerful. He has been watching the India Vs NZ test match and is hopeful that India will have a historic win. Swati is trying to make him his favorite meals. Swati's brother is here for the weekend to help her out and also to spend time with Vishal. Vishal has two more days of Chemo left and doctors have told us that he would have to be in the hospital for the next five weeks or so until he recovers and his immune system is strong and stable. Many of you wanted to see a picture of Vishal, we have uploaded this post with one. We will post the latest pictures soon.

The search for a matching bone marrow is still on and friends have been conducting bone marrow test drives.Last weekend Ajit da organized a drive at Rutgers and a lot of people turned up. One of us spoke with an NMDP representative and it was very encouraging to hear that there has been a sudden spike in the number of south Asians taking this test. To reiterate again Vishal's bone marrow donation has to come from a South Asian and the number of registered South Asian donors is extremely low. As per statistics, the possibility of a match is 1 in 20,000 so it is very important that we all continue to support this drive and spread this message to as many people as possible.If you haven't already taken the test, Please take the test at your nearest location(to find a nearest click here) as early as possible. Your support would mean a lot to us. Please do remember that your action would not only benefit Vishal but plenty of others who are in a similar situation.

We have had a lot of enthusiastic people calling and mailing us asking about what they can do in India. Some amazing folks in India are trying to explore various channels, we will definitely let you know once we have more information.

Please help us in our mission and campaign:

1. By taking a test
  • You can take a test at a free NMDP Drive
  • If you cannot find a drive near by, you can register online at the NMDP site and request for a test kit which will be mailed to you with instructions.
2. By Organizing a drive
  • Please contact us at HelpVishalMehta@gmail.com in case you want to organize a drive.
3. By spreading this message and strengthening this campaign
  • Please update your Orkut/Face book/My space or any other networking site with this blog address so that big hearted people like you can contribute.
  • Please post this content at your workplace, in your neighborhood and nearby South Asian Restaurants and Grocery Stores.
4. By providing your support to Vishal so that he can derive strength to fight this deadly disease.
  • Please do mail him at HelpVishalMehta@Gmail.com or leave your comments on this blog. He loves to hear from you.
and Finally, please do keep him in your prayers. Vishal needs you now, Please be there for him.
Thank You!

3 comments:

  1. As you said that Vishal needs a bone marrow of a south asian, wouldn't it be better if he travels back to India and then search for a donor.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Hello,

    I am already a registered donor with www.marrow.org (Phone 1 800-MARROW-2). I am not sure you did a profile match already. If not, my Donor ID is 0598-0412-0.

    Thanks
    Kalyan
    6097511509

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