• I didn't host any drives in April, so there weren't many drive announcements or recaps to highlight.
• I spent a couple weeks developing the Donation Stories section, which Dennis was so gracious in lending his story to. True story: Dennis was at the hospital a couple weeks ago to donate white blood cells (does his generosity ever stop?) and he was randomly fist-bumped in the hall by a girl who had seen his bone marrow donation video! She was there herself to donate marrow, and said the video really helped her out.
• I was pretty burnt out from the end of last month, where I helped coordinate four drives in two weeks (including three in the last week). At times I'm still trying to find a balance between work, Cheekswab, and being 26.

But here we are in May, and it's been four and a half months since launch, and things are still going strong. While I can't promise a constant stream of updates into the future, I do believe that Cheekswab has been setup to provide value, blogposts or not.

My goal for Cheekswab was to provide an easily digestible means of educating the Internet about bone marrow donation. And when the information/facts change, I'll do my best to keep the site updated. Cheekswab isn't one of those sites that I expect people to visit repeatedly. But my hope is that if people ever find themselves in circumstances where they need to know more about bone marrow donation, this is a site they can revisit and learn from. I promise that as long as I have the means, this website will continue to exist.

It still amazes me how many people contact me through this site, asking questions about registration or wanting to call attention to a specific individual or wanting to form a partnership. I assure you that the need for donors is high, and people from all around the world are finding this site to learn more. And sadly, people are still becoming sick, and still facing uncertain circumstances solely due to their race.

As always, if you're interested in coordinating a drive at your church/organization/gathering for May/June/July/whenever, please contact me. It may not be the mega millions, but the prize is even more precious: the ability to save a life.

PS: Also new this month: Cheekswab business cards! Courtesy of an awesome groupon to Vistaprint.com and the artistry/design skill of my logo designer, Elly Kim.

Swab for Janet Liang at Teachers College

Just a quick drive announcement for any folks in New York City!

Janet Liang is still searching for a donor match in the bone marrow registry! Despite the fact that her initiative has helped to register over 13,000 people and resulted in marrow matches for several others, Janet herself still needs a donor. You could be the one to save her life. If you're in New York City, please consider visiting Teachers College at Columbia University THIS THURSDAY to see if you're a match!

Drive details:

• Who: Team Janet, Volunteers from Teachers College (and friends of cheekswab!)
• Where: Everett Lounge, 525 West 120th Street
• When: 3:00pm - 9:00pm
• Why: To save lives!

Remember that all the information you need with regards to the need, the process and frequently asked questions can be found throughout this site. Get informed, get convicted, and get registered!

Since I'm unable to personally join the registry for medical reasons, I'll never know what it's like mentally and emotionally to go through the process of donating marrow. I can write about the parameters of the time commitment but I don't know what it's actually like to sacrifice the time for checkups and blood tests. Up until now, the emotional and mental perspective is what this site has lacked. The Donation Stories section hopes to address that need.

I've written about Dennis previously in this blog and the fact that he was asked to donate to an anonymous patient in early December. What you didn't know was that from the time of his initial call to over a month after his donation I asked Dennis to keep a journal about his feelings on the donation process. I also interviewed Dennis on video the night before his marrow (hip) donation and a month and a half after the procedure in hopes of capturing his thoughts at both times.

After a month of coding and video editing, I'm happy to announce that Dennis' Donation Story is now available on cheekswab.org. His video interviews are also now available on the cheekswab YouTube page.

All of Dennis' words in both the blog and video interviews are 100% his own. I told him to be honest about how he felt in all entries and video interviews and he did exactly that. So rest assured that all of Dennis' words within this new section, both good and bad, are unaltered and genuine.

A huge thanks to Dennis and his fiancee Melissa for their willingness to deal with my constant barrage of questions and appointments. I'm confident that your willingness to share your story will go a long way towards addressing many of the concerns people have about donating marrow, especially via the hip.

If you've completed a marrow donation we would love to share your donation story on this site. Please contact us to talk about how we can do so!

Last Thursday I was able to listen in on a conference call hosted by the Whitehouse Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as representatives from both government agencies and grassroots organizations shared their experiences in spreading awareness for bone marrow donation. The speakers on the call all brought an enormous amount of experience and knowledge to the discussion. They included representatives from:

• The Health Resources and Services Administration, the government agency that is ultimately responsible for funding public health initiatives like cord blood donation and blood/stem cell transplant centers (they have a contract with the National Marrow Donor Program to facilitate bone marrow donations);
• Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, an organization based in California that has been recruiting bone marrow donors for over 20 years;
• The Asian American Donor Program, an organization also based in California that runs 400 drives and recruits 14,000 donors annually;
• And finally, most poignant to me, Team Janet as represented by Janet Liang herself and her friend Tammy. Even though I was sitting on the phone thousands of miles away, it was amazing to hear her voice as she shared her story.

Janet's story is really incredible. After posting her video plea on Youtube in January, it got picked up by Reddit and her donor campaign exploded. They received 10,000 Facebook 'likes' that week. All in all Team Janet has registered over 13,000 new donors, 10,000 of whom joined since January. And while Janet has unfortunately not found a match yet herself, she has heard word that at least two matches for other patients have been found from people registered through her campaign.

It's amazing and humbling that so many people have decided to dedicate their lives to this cause. The number of donors that these organizations bring in is pretty staggering; 10,000 in three months? 14,000 per year? Cheekswab is definitely a small fish in a very big pond. But hearing everyone talk about their accomplishments was such an inspiration, because I know they all started somewhere small. And with dedication and hard work, they really are making a tangible difference in the world around them.

Bone marrow advocacy is often rooted in a beautiful irony. While I don't know the back stories of everyone on that call, the way most people become engaged with the cause (at least in my experience) is in reaction to devastation. Someone they loved needed a transplant but couldn't find one, or they themselves were diagnosed with cancer. But as a result of that devastation, which seemed so insurmountable in the moment, here they are now. Speaking on a conference call with the Whitehouse and recruiting thousands of new donors per year. Saving the lives of potentially thousands of other people that they will never meet. Cancer is one of the deepest, darkest pits that humanity has to offer, and yet it produces an altruism that reaches far beyond social, ethnic and generational lines.

Despite all that she's done, Janet is still struggling. She now has until June to find a donor, so if you haven't registered yet, please consider joining the bone marrow registry now. And please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, and continue to spread the word!

Andrew Park and his Dad

Andrew Park finds a bone marrow donor!

Andrew Park, the 17 year old boy from Illinois who ODPC honored with a bone marrow drive last month, is now in remission and has found a bone marrow donor in the registry!

From his father's blog:

Dr. Sonali started by saying since his chromosome 7 and 8 have diffused and with Andrew being in remission, his chances of survival just got much better and he is in IDEAL shape to go into transplant. And then she broke the news that there is a 41 year old female in the states who is a 6 of 8 high resolution match...

... So, we left last Thursday's meeting knowing the transplant team would reach out to the donor and ask for dates for the donation. The ideal date with Andrew's chemo schedule was May 8th for donation. WELL, WE JUST GOT WORD THE DONOR WILL BE DONATING HER MARROW FOR ANDREW ON MAY 16TH AND ANDREW WILL HAVE HIS TRANSPLANT NEXT DAY, MAY 17.

I can't imagine the excitement that the news of a donor must have brought the entire Park family. While Andrew's journey is still far from over, he has taken a massive, massive step forward.

Timothy Song catching up on some reading

Timothy Song 40+ Days Past Transplant

Alice Song's blog is one of my most emotional reads on the Internet. Her posts run the gamut of emotions -- a combination of love, hope and despair all rolled into one. The sincerity in which she expresses her joys and fears makes me think of my own mother and what her thought processes must have been like when she was at my bedside everyday. It really hits home for me.

I blogged throughout my time in the hospital and it wasn't always easy. There's a conflict between the fact that people who love you want to sincerely know what's going on and the fact that nothing that's going on is really anyone's business. Sickness is intensely personal. It's an act of selflessness and vulnerability to become emotionally transparent with the world in a difficult time and Alice Song has done that over and over again. She's personalized the need for a donor from the perspective of a mother. If you are reading this and are still unsure why donating is so important, I encourage you to read through her blog. On this website I'm armed with statistics and anecdotes, but those pale in comparison to the words of a mother of a sick child.

As of day 44, Timothy's white blood cell count is increasing, his medications are dropping, his rashes are disappearing and his appetite is returning. Like Andrew, Timothy is not completely out of the woods, but he's come an incredibly long way.

To both Andrew and Timothy, here's to successful transplants and full recoveries.

God bless.

I awoke last Friday (3/9) to several emails in my inbox from the BeTheMatch Foundation. Thanks to the generosity of Argy, Wiltse & Robinson P.C. (a full-service Accounting firm headquartered in McLean, VA) a total of $820 was donated to the Cheekswab BeTheMatch Foundation Donation Page to help register new donors at drives held in the Washington DC/Northern VA/MD area!

Several weeks ago my friend Nathan contacted me to ask if there was any means of contributing a tax-deductible donation directly to cheekswab.org. Since cheekswab is not officially registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization I told him that there was not. However there was a still a tax-deductible means to support the cause of bone marrow donation in a manner that would directly impact lives within our own area. By using the Cheekswab BeTheMatch Foundation Donation Page, people/organizations can know that 100% of their donations will go exclusively towards donor kit processing costs for local DC/VA/MD area drives (including drives conducted by cheekswab.org).

With every passing marrow drive that I'm involved with I become increasingly impressed with the efficiency and resources of the National Marrow Donor Program. I notify the NMDP before every drive, at which point my regional representative Juliette makes sure that I have enough supplies to cover all prospective donors. If I don't she expedites boxes of supplies to my house, including kits, forms, pens, stickers, inserts, signs, etc. If I don't have volunteers she uses her resources to look for other volunteers to help. If I have a question she's unable to answer (which is rare) she quickly moves the question up her chain of command. For an organization that operates over such a massive area with so many independently moving parts, it's amazing how well-oiled the machine is. It's been really impressive to see.

But at the core I'm a pragmatist. And while I reap the benefits of being in contact with the NMDP, I'm not naive enough to assume that all of this is free. The shipping, the supplies, the employees. The DNA-processing of all swab kits. And I'm fortunate with cheekswab in that I don't have to ask for money because I know how that asking for money can immediately change perceptions about intentions. But the NMDP is not so lucky, and fundraising and a reliance on the altruism of others is what ultimately empowers the organization to save lives.

Nathan asked me about financial donations because his company, Argy, Wiltse & Robinson, P.C., has a corporate focus on charitable giving. Through their "Jeans Day," in which employees donate $5 to a charity and wear jeans to work on a Friday, Argy gives back to organizations within its local community. At Nathan's suggestion Argy decided that a Friday in February would be dedicated to cheekswab and bone marrow donation, and I was shocked to see a total of $820 in donations on the cheekswab Foundation page late last week.

It costs roughly $100 to process a single registrant from start to finish, and while there are funds allocated by the organization to cover donor registration the NMDP has a slew of other expenses to account for. Consequently every single financial donation for donor registration has an impact. Every single financial donation saves more lives.

I'd like to once again thank Argy, Wiltse & Robinson P.C. for their willingness to sacrifice a little in honor of a patient they will likely never meet. There are no assurances that anyone who has registered at a cheekswab drive this year will ever be called to donate, but there's a chance. And I firmly believe that chance of a donation, no matter how small, is significant. It's worth the time and it's worth the money, and everyone that facilitates that opportunity from the donors, doctors, drive organizers and financial contributors deserve credit for their role in making that donation a reality.

• To donate to the Cheekswab BeTheMatch Foundation page, please click here.
• To donate to the National Marrow Donor Program as a whole, please click here.
• To learn more about the importance of Financial Support, please click here.

George Mason University Marrow Drive, Thursday, 2/23

Swabbing at George Mason University

I want to give a special shout out to Vinh Phan, a GMU student who really went above and beyond the call of duty to make the GMU drive a success. We had originally planned to host a drive at GMU as part of the multi-school Team Janet East Coast initiative on Valentines Day (which registered donors from UMCP, UMBC, GWU and EVMS) but unfortunately due to some last minute complications the drive fell through. Fortunately the drive was able to be rescheduled for Thursday evening and 29 total Mason students came out to swab! That brought the total for each school of the Team Janet East Coast initiative (UMCP: 73, UMBC: 62, GWU: 50, EVMS: 83 and GMU: 29) to 297 new donors! Thank you to each school that participated!

Team Janet East Coast at UMCP

Chesterbrook Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, Friday (2/24) and Sunday (2/26)

A friend of mine from college felt convicted to reach out to me in early February about the possibility of running a drive at his home church after hearing of Janet's circumstances and story. As a church with members of primarily Chinese/Taiwanese descent, I think Janet's story resonated especially strong within the CTPC community. The members and staff at CTPC were extremely generous in their efforts to publicize and facilitate a successful drive at two separate services this past weekend. Not only did they introduce Janet's situation and story to the congregation, but they also made it a priority to educate one another about the bone marrow registry, what the process involved, and the overarching need for donors of Chinese/Taiwanese descent.

Chesterbrook Taiwanese Presbyterian Church Friday Night Drive

With a congregation of roughly 80 people, CTPC registered a total of 50 bone marrow registrants this weekend. That is seriously a fantastic turnout. I know that the prospect of bone marrow donation can be an scary one to a lot of people, but despite any uncertainty CTPC really came out in full force to help others.

By adding both the Team Janet East Coast total and the donors from CTPC, that brings the total number of East Coast registrants for Janet Liang for the month of February to 347 donors!

CTPC Friday Night Volunteers

As always, I'm extremely grateful to all the friends and friends-of-friends who came out to help swab registrants at each drive. Without you all these drives don't happen, and I know it's a sacrifice to spend your weekday nights or weekend afternoons volunteering. Thanks for your continued support!

CTPC Sunday Afternoon Volunteers

Drives this week for Janet Liang include:

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
Thursday, 7pm-10pm, Johnson Center Meeting Room E (Third Floor)
4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA, 22030

GMU Patriots! While the drive on Valentines Day for Janet Liang fell through due to some last minute issues, I will be on campus at George Mason University this Thursday to register donors at a drive coordinated by the GMU Vietnamese Students Association. Please come out to the Johnson Center for a short presentation and swabbing drive! I'll be available to answer any questions you have about the process, as will a friend of mine who recently donated marrow in December.

RSVP to the Facebook event here! http://www.facebook.com/events/257714900970660/

For questions and clarifications regarding what bone marrow registration is, what the registration process is like and if donating marrow hurts, please click through the rest of the content on cheekswab.org. If your question isn't answered anywhere here, please contact me

CHESTERBROOK TAIWANESE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Friday (10pm) and Sunday (1pm)
2036 Westmoreland Street, Falls Church, VA, 22033

I'll also be running another drive at Chesterbrook Taiwanese Presbyterian Church on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, both in honor of Janet Liang. To any CTPC members, please look over the material on this site and let me know if you have any questions!

For more information on the CTPC drive, view their announcement here.

ODPC Drive Volunteers

The bone marrow drive at Open Door Presbyterian Church on Sunday was an amazing display of generosity by not only the ODPC congregation but the community at large. In addition to the incredible response of members of ODPC, there were a number of visitors and volunteers at the drive who had heard of Andrew's cause via social media or the Internet and decided to come out to the drive to help or join the registry.

Joining Andrew's Army at ODPC

The amazing part about this drive was how invested ODPC was in the drive's promotion and success. Often times at churches marrow drives can become something of an afterthought or minor bullet on the itinerary. But ODPC, with its over 700 weekly attendees, went above and beyond the call of duty (in a very short 3 week period) to do all that they could to run a successful drive.

Andrew's Family at ODPC

Pastor Dihan and church leadership devoted service time during consecutive weeks for messages from Andrew's aunt Pam, in addition to running a thorough web and print campaign to raise awareness. On drive day over 20 church members arrived early in the morning for training and stayed late into the afternoon to register donors. For a church with such a large scale and variety of programs, I'm almost positive that schedules and events are set months in advance. And yet, despite any potential inconvenience, ODPC was extremely accommodating. Pam, her family, Juliette Williams from the NMDP, the volunteers, and the ODPC leadership all deserve recognition for their hand in the drive's success.

Registering Donors

The final overall count for donors from Sunday came out to 254. It was by far the biggest drive I've ever been involved in, and I have no doubt in my mind that lives will be saved by someone who registered through this drive.

To anyone who joined the registry on Sunday that may be reading this post, I know that it was a difficult decision, and I know you may not know what to expect moving forward. But I promise you that if you do get called, and you do donate, no matter what temporary inconveniences you experience in the end you will never regret that decision. The opportunity to save a life is a gift and not a burden, and you'll remember it for the rest of your life.

Thank you for joining the lottery to save a life.

To keep updated with Andrew Park's health, please remember to visit his father's blog.

254 Completed Swab Kits

A reminder that there will be a bone marrow drive in honor of Andrew Park at Open Door Presbyterian Church (ODPC) in Herndon, VA from 9:45am - 2:00pm this Sunday in the gymnasium of the English Ministry building.

• For directions to ODPC, please click here.
• For more background on Andrew's story, read his father's blog.
• For questions and clarifications regarding what bone marrow registration is, what the registration process is like and if donating marrow hurts, please click through the rest of the content on cheekswab.org. If your question isn't answered anywhere here, please contact me.

Let's find Andrew a match this Sunday!