Please help save my friend's life

[daisy]

I know sometimes I'm wordy, but please PLEASE read this to the end. You could save my friend's life.

My friend, Matt Fenster, will die without a bone marrow transplant. He is nearly 40 and has a daughter and three sons, all under 10 years old. His wife and I were in college together, and they live just a few blocks from me in the Bronx. I see them all the time.

A few weeks ago, Matt learned that he has Leukemia. He is undergoing his second round of aggressive chemotherapy, but the doctors already know that he will need a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. They want to do the transplant sometime in June. If we don't find a donor, he will die.

So what can you do?

1.You can register as a marrow donor with the organization "gift of life" by going to this website:

http://www.giftoflife.org/dc/Matt-Fenster-Donor-Circle/blog.aspx

At this website you can learn all about Matt and about being a donor. If you can't register as a donor (too old or too young), you can make a money donation to help defray the cost of registration (each test costs $54, but you don't have to pay to register). Matt's friends and community have already raised over $40,000 to pay for tests.

2. You can go to a marrow donor drive and register as a donor. Anyone between 18 and 60 can do it - all it takes is a cheek swab!

There will be a donor registration drive on Sunday, May 23rd in Manhattan at two locations: the Central Park Summer Stage and Temple Emanu-El on East 65th Street.

Not only is registering painless, but when we find a donor, that person just has to donate blood - the cells Matt needs are circulating in a donor's blood, so there is no painful surgery!


Please see these links for more info on Matt and what you can do:

http://www.1010wins.com/Bronx-Father-in-Desperate-Search-of-Bone-Marrow-Ma/7058711


http://www.riverdalepress.com/full.php?sid=12355&current_edition=2010-05-13

Thank you for reading this thread, and may you be blessed for considering to help save my friend Matt's life.

 

[jcolon2]

I registered about a month and a half ago.... however, I registered with 'Be the Match'. Would that help? I hope your friend Matt finds a donor!

 

[daisy]

The organization he registered with will check all other databases, so you're in.

Thank you so much!

 

[Ryanr1212]

im too young to register... but ill def donate..

my best friends gf's dad has just been diagnosed with leukemia also about 3 weeks ago.. he is in the city at a hospital and he is going to need a transplant also... i feel your pain i really do i have known this man for a while and hes a really good family friend so i hope everything works out for him. and good luck with your friends fight also

 

[tomtoothdoc]

hi daisy,
what is matt's ethnic background? i registered with the asian society awhile back when they were still taking blood to run the profile tests. i believe i'm still on the registry.
if i remember correctly, i may have read some where that there may be some chance of compatibility between the jewish and asian ethnic backgrounds. some of the genetic disorders are in common with the jewish and asian ethnicity.
anyway it doesn't hurt to register. btw this link doesn't work.

www.mattfenstercircle.org

i wish him well and will keep him in our prayers.

 

[KathyC]

The organization he registered with will check all other databases, so you're in.

Thank you so much!

So we can register with any local organization (rather than having to attend the single event for your friend) and possibly help him (or someone else with this awful illness)? I'm in and will be registered by the end of the week.

Also sending prayers for your good friend Tahl :hug:

 

[daisy]

Thank you for your wishes and prayers - he needs them.

Matt is, as I am, an Ashkenazi Jew. (Jews who ended up in Eastern Europe after the exile from Israel about 2000 years ago). His greatest chances are with other Ashkenazi Jews, but the Jews are actually more closely related to other semites and Asians, so yes, there is compatibility between those ethnic groups. So while Matt's best chances are with Ashkenazi Jews, you could possibly still be a match for Matt.

Even if you are not a match for my friend, you could save someone else's friend, father, mother or child... You never know.

Kathy - registering with "gift of life" will get to Matt the fastest, but you don't have to go to a drive - You can register with them on line and they will send you a kit free of charge. If you send the kit back with money, they will process it. If you send it back w/o money, it will be processed when enough money has been raised to process it. We are both raising money and registering donors in the hopes that all donors will be processed.

Thanks so much!

Try this site:

http://www.giftoflife.org/dc/Matt-Fenster-Donor-Circle/blog.aspx

 

[cupcake]

I have been a registered donor for about two years and have recently renewed my reg! I have been swabbed and tested so if Im a match, im there!

 

[motortrendz]

i have been a donor for a few years and i give blood regularly..
im actually the red cross leasion with my firehouse, i help them with all the blood drives and do what i can.. good luck, and your friend will be in our prayers!!!

 

[daisy]

Thank you, everyone - for reading, for posting, for adding Matt's name to your prayers (in Hebrew his name is Moshe Shmuel ben Henka), and most of all, for registering to be a donor.

I will continue to appeal to those of you who have not yet read this thread, and I will up the ante.

On the give of life webiste, it costs $54 to become a donor. If you cannot pay this amount, please pm me, and I will give you a code so that you can register without paying. They send you a test kit - and it's just a cheek swab.

It will take about 1 minute of your time, and it could save my friend's life. Even if you're not ashkenazi, even if you're not Jewish - you never know.

Kind of like the lottery.

Only this actually matters.

Thanks everyone!