Leukemia leaves them in need of rare donation

Published 10:49 pm Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The need for bone marrow is only one of the similarities Vinay Chakravarthy and Sameer Bhatia share.

Both men have acute myelogenous leukemia, a type of blood cancer.

Both have a one in 20,000 chance of finding a marrow donor.

Chakravarthy and Bhatia are from South Asia, which includes the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

Of the 6.4 million people in the National Marrow Donor Registry, only 94,000 are identified as South Asian.

Lack of education about donating is the main roadblock in finding donors, said drive organizer Gita Gisin.

The families and friends of Chakravarthy and Bhatia have teamed up to hold marrow drives across the country specifically to recruit South Asian donors.

The Bothell Hindu Temple and Cultural Center, 3818 212th St. SE, will play host to one such drive Sunday.

The Bothell drive is just a preliminary test, Gisin said. Interested people will only have a cotton swab wiped along the inside of their cheek. No blood work will be done on-site.

Gisin said she hopes the drive will register 150 people as potential donors.

“This is one scenario where race is so important,” Gisin said. “These people have to have exact blood matches. If they don’t get it, they die.”

Reporter Jasa Santos: 425-339-3465 or jsantos@heraldnet.com.