Update: Natalie Nakatani, pictured left, found a marrow match among the national database of potential donors .

• Hope arrives two searching for marrow donors

  Natalie Nakatani is and 8-year-old living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jennifer Jones Austin is a 42-year-old attorney, a mother of two with a long history of community services living in New York. Two very different people facing a similar foe – both are battling leukemia, both needed a marrow transplant, and both faced overwhelming odds in finding a match.

            National stories about the two brought attention to shortage of potential matching marrow donors for minorities – Natalie is Asian, Jennifer is black. Those stories prompted thousands of people to step forward to volunteer and join the national registry of volunteers who stand ready to donate if needed. This week word came from the National Marrow Donor Program that a matching Asian donor was found for Natalie, while Jennifer’s match came from a baby. She’ll be receiving a transplant of umbilical cord blood, donated at the time of a baby’s birth, that can work like a marrow transplant.

            Now these two people share something else in common – both have hope. There are still many more patients out there hoping for this same kind of news, hoping a match can be found. Volunteer today as a marrow donor and share the news with any mothers-to-be that the birth of their child may also be able to save another’s life. Someone may be waiting for you to join the registry and be their lifesaving match.
  
  To join the national marrow registry, you need to:
  * Be in good general health
  * Be between the ages of 18-60
  * Takes 10 minutes to complete a form and a cheek swab!
  * You are joining a national database of potential donors for ANY patient in need
  
  To find out more, please click on the "Join the Marrow Registry" button to the right under programs.