The Cheekswab Blog
Janet Liang and the “R” Word
28 Jan 2012 | No Comments | posted by cheekswab | in Blog
Join the Registry for Janet Liang Now
Janet Liang is a UCLA graduate student who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in 2009. I don't know her personally, but I linked to her website in the Links and Organizations section of this site because I came across it while looking for other bone marrow initiatives. Through helpingjanet.com, Janet has used her diagnosis to reach out to and educate thousands of people about the need for minority donors. In a matter of two years her outreach has helped to register more than 6,800 bone marrow donors. It's seriously a staggering number. To give a frame of reference, I set the goal for cheekswab at 300 donors this year. I've registered 82 so far.
In the last two days I've received two separate emails about Janet, as recent developments concerning her health have created an outpouring of support across the Internet. I was directed to this blog post that she wrote on December 26, entitled "I'm Dying. Again.":
Last week, I was notified by my hematologist/oncologist that I’ve unfortunately relapsed and will need a bone marrow transplant. And tomorrow (December 26) I will be heading back to the hospital for a month of high-dosage chemotherapy.
I’m writing to ask you as my friends and supporters to be a part of my Helping Janet family. Now more than ever will I really need to count on you for your help. After this intense round of relapse chemotherapy, my oncologist wants to move forward with conditioning chemotherapy and a stem cell/marrow transplant, but not without a perfect match. This is crucial for my survival, and I truly appreciate your support during these difficult times.
When I read it, I freezed up immediately. I felt my heart beat faster and my face begin to flush. She had said the single word that I have completely eliminated from my vocabulary for the last 5 years, no matter the context:
"Relapse."
Read more..UVA GCF Bone Marrow Drive: 79 New Donors!
22 Jan 2012 | 2 Comments | posted by cheekswab | in Blog
On Friday a few friends and I had the pleasure of running a bone marrow drive at Grace Christian Fellowship at the University of Virginia. The response from GCF was overwhelming.
View from the Swabbing Table
As the first "official" cheekswab drive, there were a lot of unknowns going into Friday. I was told that a reasonable estimate for attendees was in the ballpark of anywhere from 60-80 people, based on previous events of a similar nature. It's always a difficult exercise to make any worthwhile estimates about the number of kits needed for a group of x size because the response can be so variable. For example, the first drive I was ever a part of was coordinated through a different bone marrow organization. The drive was scheduled for a church congregation of 100 people, and the drive organizer was told that for a congregation of 100 people, we'd be lucky to get 10 registrations. For whatever reason, more experience seems to set the level of expectation lower rather than higher.
Read more..UVA Bone Marrow Drive, Tomorrow 1/20/2012
19 Jan 2012 | No Comments | posted by cheekswab | in Blog
Just a reminder that I'll be speaking briefly/running a bone marrow drive at Grace Christian Fellowship at UVA tomorrow, starting at 7:00pm in the Student Activities Building.
Event details can be found here: UVA Grace Christian Fellowship Bone Marrow Drive
For any GCFers that may be reading this page, I've requested that some brief introductory information be included in the Facebook invite. Remember, to help facilitate filling out the forms, the best way to make sure you have the information is to send yourself an email beforehand (if you have a smartphone). Otherwise, you can write info down on a sheet of paper and bring it with you.
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!