Beyond Prisons is a podcast on prison abolition that elevates the voices of people directly impacted by the system.
Beyond Prisons is a podcast on prison abolition that elevates the voices of people directly impacted by the system.
Dear Beyond Prisons Community,
We are crossposting this Urgent Appeal for Stem Cell Donors, which was shared by our colleagues at Truthout. Please take a moment to read it, and share it widely!
A longtime Truthout contributing writer and renowned reporter is currently battling leukemia. Her treatment now requires a stem cell transplant, which stands a good chance of eradicating her cancer. This transplant requires a close match between the donor and the host based on proteins, called HLAs, found on their respective cells. HLA types correlate with ethnicity, meaning that a donor match for our writer will probably be someone of Asian ancestry — most likely a person who, like our writer, is Chinese. However, partly due to inequities in the U.S. healthcare system, most of the country's stem cell donors are white.
That's where you, our community, can come in. If you're a person of Asian descent and are between the ages of 18 and 40, you can check whether you are a match, and if so, make a stem cell donation. The first step is a simple screening (consisting of an online questionnaire and a mail-in mouth swab) to determine if you are a match for someone in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) database. If matched, the donor registry would cover your travel to make the donation, as well as any lost wages. If you are able to support in this way, please start your NMDP questionnaire here.
If you don't fall into the parameters to become a stem cell donor, please spread the word to friends who do. Let's show up for our long-time reporter, who has done so much essential work vital to Truthout readers, in this urgent time.
Sincerely,
Maya and Ziggy